Final Fantasy: Altern Idem
by Drache53
Summary: Jeremey's life is thrown into chaos as he and six of his friends acquire Final Fantasy weapons, seemingly by fate, to combat Sephiroth and five other Final Fantasy villains along with FF monsters. R&R please.
1. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 1  
  
It was an unusually warm October night when Jeremey and Kaylie stepped out of the recreation center and walked down the sidewalk. The wind blew through the trees surrounding the cracked sidewalk, worn from many years of use. People walked by the couple so caught up in their own conversations they nearly bumped into them. Jeremey loved nights like this, when he could just hang out with his friends and not worry about anything. They turned a corner and followed the sidewalk down the main street of their little town.  
  
Justin and Petey, Jeremey's longtime friends, tagged along about five feet behind the couple, just within earshot. Jeremey was about five-foot nine-inches tall, thin, had short brown hair and brown eyes to match. Kaylie was five-foot eight-inches tall, thin, had blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Justin and Petey both had dirty blonde hair but Justin was really short and had brown eyes while Petey was taller than Jeremey and had blue eyes, both were thin. All four had extremely explosive tempers and Jeremey had a tendency to brood a lot, a strong sense of justice, and more determination than anyone he knew.  
  
"You know, just once I'd like something REALLY cool to happen to us." Jeremey said to Kaylie holding up his index finger to indicate the number, "You guys know what I'm talkin bout?" He looked to Justin and Petey who nodded enthusiastically. Jeremey was a huge Final Fantasy fan and he owned all of them except three and eleven. They passed in front of the library, which was nothing more than a very small brick building that housed a few hundred books; a 'Backwoods Larnin Center' as Jeremey jokingly called it.  
  
"We all do Jeremey, but that doesn't mean it'll happen." Kaylie replied, "I mean, if everyone had a lot of cool stuff happen to them, it'd be kinda boring. Don't you think?" Jeremey raised and eyebrow. He was used to having long conversations about trivial subjects.  
  
"I never said anything about anybody else having cool stuff happen to them." He smiled waving his pointing hand in front of him like a drunkard would, "Just me and my friends, like some kind of Final Fantasy adventure thing."   
  
"Not THAT again" Kaylie rolled her eyes, but she smiled at Jeremey to let him know she was joking. ANY adventure would be welcome. She looked at Justin and Petey and smiled, then she planted a kiss on Jeremey's cheek.  
  
"Now what did I do to deserve that?" Jeremey smiled at her. He was still getting used to having a girlfriend after almost two years of being single. Whims of fancy that led to kissing was not something that one could just jump into gung-ho. His hand started tingling like it had fallen asleep, but he ignored it.   
  
"Just wanted to let you know that I love you." She replied laying her head on his shoulder. Her forearm tingled as well, she scratched it thinking it would go away...it didn't.  
  
"Hey, are your hands tingling?" Justin asked them. Petey shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, but Jeremey and Kaylie nodded. Justin opened and closed his hand hoping it would go away, but it stayed.  
  
Jeremey looked down and his hand and sparkling little shapes suddenly appeared in the shape of a sword or something similar.  
  
"What the hell?!" Jeremey exclaimed and looked to his friends, Kaylie had something appearing on her forearm, the shape was familiar to him somehow, and Justin had something appearing shaped like a sword, only it was different than Jeremey's, smaller.  
  
Jeremey looked back down to his hand and Squall's gunblade from Final Fantasy 8 materialized and attempted to fall to the ground but Jeremey grabbed it. His jaw dropped and his mouth moved trying to find words. His mind seemed to be a maelstrom of ideas and explanations, none of which were coherent.  
  
"You gotta be fuggin kidding me..." He finally choked out and looked around. On Kaylie's forearm was Rinoa's pinwheel from the same game and Justin held Tidus's Brotherhood sword from Final Fantasy 10. They all gaped at what had just happened.  
  
The device on Kaylie's arm-- a pinwheel as it was called-- was nothing more than a mechanism that shot a sky-blue saw blade-like disc at enemies and was strapped onto someone's forearm. Once shot, the disc would cut anything in its way then circle back to the owner. The owner of the weapon would then catch the disc on the mechanism. It took precise aiming on the part of the owner to catch the blade, or else it would be over. Jeremey thought it wasn't the most genius weapon ever made, considering the threat, but it got the job done, almost always without error he guessed. Why else would anybody use it?  
  
"Dude, these are Final Fantasy weapons.." Justin said in amazement while inspecting his weapon. It glimmered in the light from the lamppost they stood under, but something else was catching his attention. The blade seemed to be made out of water. He couldn't see through it, but it seemed as though pool water had been solidified into the shape of this sword. Near the hilt guard it seemed as though the water was frothing. He couldn't believe what had just happened; a weapon that should by all rights not exist had just appeared out of nowhere.   
  
Jeremey nodded and inspected his own wepaon. It was exactly like Squall's gunblade, the blade was fairly short, about three feet long. The rest of the weapon was made up of something that resembled a revolver, except that the black grip was elongated and was arranged so that someone could hold it like a sword. An emblem of a flaming lion with wings decorated the blade and a chain with a lion's head on the end of it hung from the end of the black grip. In all, the weapon seemed to be about four and a half feet long.  
  
"Amazing..." Jeremey said. Suddenly, and bright blue light flashed in front of them and a man was standing where the flash had occurred, blue swirls of light dancing around him. He had long silver hair with two long strands falling in front of his face. He had piercing green eyes and was wearing all black.  
  
"It can't be man..." Jeremey's eyes grew wide, fear rising inside of him, "It's impossible!" Justin took a step back, he knew who this man was and what it could mean to the world.  
  
"Sephiroth!" He cried in amazement. Sephiroth looked at them and smiled a smile that sent chills down the group's spines.   
  
"So this is Earth?" He said taking in his environment, "It's not all it's made out to be. But it will have to suffice." Jeremey didn't like the way that sounded. He remembered Sephiroth's intentions in Final Fantasy 7. Jeremey readied himself for battle.  
  
"What are you doing, boy?" Sephiroth laughed, "Do you intend to fight me?" A bead of sweat rolled down Jeremey's forehead and into his eye. He closed blinked instinctively and when he opened his eyes Sephiroth was gone.  
  
"Ah, I see you have the gunblade?" A voice came from behind Jeremey, who spun around only to be staring Sephiroth in the face. He was tall, about six foot seven Jeremey guessed. Jeremey took a several of steps back.  
  
"What are you doing here man?" He forced a smile, "Aren't you supposed to be getting your ass whooped by Cloud somewhere?" Forced humor was the only way Jeremey knew how to cope with stress and fear of this magnitude.  
  
"Hm," Sephiroth frowned, "Typical of you to think that. But my plans are far to magnificent for your simple mind to understand. Now, unfortunately for you, I'm going to destroy you and this entire pathetic town." He held his right hand outward and the Masamune appeared. It was a samurai katana with a blade six feet long. It seemed impossible that anyone could wield a weapon like that, but then again, Sephiroth was the only one who could wield it. He stood in his fighting stance, with his sword held horizontally at shoulder level, pointing toward Jeremey.  
  
By this time the people near the group had either run off frightened or had stayed to see what developed. Jeremey glanced over to the forming crowd and then back to Sephiroth.  
  
"Destroy us?!" He asked, "Why?! What would be the point? We're just a group of harmless kids." Jeremey said mockingly, smiling. Sephiroth growled.  
  
"Insolent whelp..." He muttered under his breath. "How dare he..."  
  
Jeremey looked at his friends, "Get outta here, I'll hold him off." He knew he would probably die in the ensuing battle, but he had to try.  
  
"But Jeremey, we have weapons too!" Justin replied, getting ready to fight for his life.  
  
"No!" Jeremey yelled firmly, "I won't have you guys die because I made a careless mistake in a fight! Go! I'll be alright..." He knew it was a lie, but he couldn't have his friends around in a fight, it would distract him. Kaylie was about to reply but Sephiroth suddenly charged at Jeremey, who pushed Kaylie out of the way and readied himself for the coming battle.  
  
"I'm growing weary of this!" He said as he slashed for Jeremey's legs, to which Jeremey responded by instinctively jumping straight up. "It doesn't matter who stays to fight me, you are all going to DIE!!" He then slashed at Jeremey again but Jeremey brought his weapon up to block and was knocked sideways by the force of the blow.  
  
"Ah!" Jeremey screamed as he hit a street sign on the other side of the street, warping the base. He looked up to see Sephiroth walking toward him slowly. Justin, Kaylie, and Petey were about to attack Sephiroth but Jeremey stood and told them again to run.   
  
"I can handle him!" He said looking back to Sephiroth, who was chuckling. "What's so funny?" Sephiroth looked up and took his battle stance.  
  
"The joke you just made." He waited for Jeremey to reply with a retaliatory insult. That insult never came; Jeremey simply laughed and charged at Sephiroth.  
  
Jeremey jumped as high as he could and brought his gunblade down with all his might. Sephiroth easily blocked, leaned back so Jeremey fell forward and used Jeremey's momentum to kick him back to the other side of the street, in front of the library; performing a back flip as he did. Jeremey crashed through the white picket fence in front of the library, slid on the ground, crashed into a tree, and curled into a fetal position. The pain was immense, but he didn't think anything was broken. He looked at his right hand and was relieved to see that his gunblade was still there.  
  
"This guy's too tough!" He coughed and stood, "But I can't give up. Not as long as I still breath... I have to kill him!" He stood in a defensive stance. Sephiroth was already at the sidewalk. Jeremey stumbled back a step, his body ached all over. Sephiroth smiled.  
  
"Did you honestly believe you could face me in battle and win?" He laughed and charged again. Jeremey ducked as Sephiroth swung his sword at his head and rolled to the side as Sephiroth ran past him. Jeremey turned and looked as Sephiroth stopped and turned his head to look at him, frowning. Sephiroth then smiled and the trunk of the tree that Jeremey had crashed into suddenly slid in half diagonally. Sephiroth had cut straight through the thick trunk with little effort. Jeremey's eye twitched and he took a step back.  
  
"Not good.." He said to himself as Sephiroth turned and walked toward him menacingly. "Definitely not good.. Where's the police when you need them?" He looked around and saw that most of the crowd had dispersed. Justin, Kaylie, and Petey were nowhere in sight; at least they were safe. Jeremey turned just in time to see Sephiroth trying to impale him with the Masamune. Instinctively, he turned sideways and leaned back, barely dodging the attack, the blade practically leaning against his chest.  
  
"That was too close.." He said looking at the huge sword and then to Sephiroth, who had a broad smile on his face. "What are you smiling about?" Sephiroth nodded his head to behind where Jeremey stood a moment before. He turned and gasped at what he saw.  
  
A woman, maybe in her late 40s, was impaled on the end of the sword. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape as blood slowly dripped out of it. Sephiroth slowly pulled the sword out of her chest and stood a moment, admiring his work.  
  
"No..." Jeremey said, "Please no.." He ran to the woman and caught her as she fell to the ground. He stuck the blade of his weapon into the ground, lifted her head and found that she was dead, her face trapped in a look of surprise, her cold blue eyes staring at him. Jeremey went numb all over his body.  
  
"This is my fault..." Jeremey said, "If only I had parried instead of dodging..." His opened and closed his mouth looking for more words to say, but none came. He closed the woman's eyes and laid her head down. He suddenly heard Sephiroth laughing maniacally. He clenched his fists and stood, grabbing his gunblade.  
  
"You intrigue me boy." Sephiroth laughed, "I honestly thought cared only about your friends." He took his battle stance again, still laughing.  
  
"How can you laugh..." Jeremey gripped his gunblade white-knuckle tight, his anger taking complete control over him, "How can you laugh after doing that to someone?!" Jeremey charged at Sephiroth, blocking everything out of his mind except the figure in front of him. He swung the weapon in a left horizontal slash aiming for Sephiroth's head. Sephiroth blocked, but struggled to keep his blade steady. Jeremey's anger served as an impetus and he continued his attack by breaking the encounter and slashing at Sephiroth's left side, forcing Sephiroth to fall back.  
  
"His anger seems to make him stronger, faster..." Sephiroth said to himself. "I thought it would have made him sloppier... But it's made him better." He ducked as Jeremey slashed at his head. He then parried a lunge intended for his heart. He countered with a downward slash which Jeremey blocked. Sephiroth smiled and kicked Jeremey in the stomach, sending him flying back onto the sidewalk directly in front of the library.  
  
"Ugh.." Jeremey clutched his stomach, "That one hurt..." He looked to where Sephiroth had stood when he kicked him only to find that Sephiroth had vanished. He stared at that spot for a moment, then he heard a rustle of clothing above him. He looked up to see Sephiroth coming from the sky feet first with the Masamune pointed down, intending to kill Jeremey.  
  
"Now you DIE boy!" He yelled as readied himself for the attack. Time seemed to slow down around Jeremey as he watched this unreal Angel of Death descend upon him.  
  
"I'm gonna die..." Jeremey said as an insuperable fear rising in him, but that was overcome by his determination. "No! I can't!" He shouted as he rolled onto his right side as the blade came down and went through the ground as though it was butter. Jeremey looked to see Sephiroth coming down with the blade and he raised the end of his gunblade to impale Sephiroth through the chest as he came down.  
  
"Ugh!" Sephiroth exclaimed and spit blood out, which landed on Jeremey's face. He looked down at Jeremey with pure shock on his face. Jeremey smiled weakly at him. Sephiroth frowned and seemed to be pulled into the sky slowly by an invisible force.  
  
"This is not over boy!" He yelled as he floated into the air and dispersed into tiny, blue glowing orbs.  
  
"That was... REALLY close.." Jeremey said as he realized that the blade of Sephiroth's sword had cut through his light jacket when he had rolled over. He sat up and mulled over the night's events and what they meant. The face of the woman Sephiroth had killed broke his thoughts. His body went numb again as he turned to look at the woman's body lying on the ground.  
  
"It was my fault..." Jeremey said as Justin and Kaylie ran up to him. "All my fault.." He looked at his gunblade and wished that it would go away so he could think clearly. It dispersed into tiny, glowing golden orbs. He looked at his hand and fell onto his back and groaned as all his pain hit him like a freight train.  
  
"Jeremey, dude, that was fuggin awesome!" Justin shouted in excitement as he stood looking down at him. "I've never seen anything like that in my life!" Kaylie was the first to notice something was wrong.  
  
"What's wrong baby?" She kneeled down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. He sat up and looked at her with tearful eyes.  
  
"That woman..." He pointed to the body, his voice shaking, "She died because of me.. If only I had blocked or parried or done something else beside dodge, she'd be alive right now! " Kaylie looked at him with concerned eyes.  
  
"You didn't know Jeremey, there was nothing you could do." She told him. "And worrying over it will only make it worse." He hung his head for a moment and looked back up at her with a forced resolve.  
  
"I guess you're right." He said as he stood. He groaned and stumbled a moment before righting himself. Petey finally arrived and looked Jeremey over.  
  
"You look like crap dude." He said with a relaxed tone. Jeremey laughed and slapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"I feel like crap." Jeremey said as he limped down the sidewalk. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!" 


	2. Marlboro Country

MARLBORO COUNTRY  
  
  
  
"Ugh.." Jeremey said as he pushed his empty plate away. I'm not feeling to well now.." He looked around the small restaurant and sighed. The fading wallpaper was decorated with green and blue flowers. Jeremey didn't like eating here, he always ordered the food to go. But tonight he was in no condition to order his food to go. He went into the restroom to inspect his injuries. He had a long, thin bruise on his side from crashing into the road sign, a boot-shaped bruise on his stomach where Sephiroth had kicked him, and a big bruise on his back where he had crashed into the tree.  
  
"Shat.." Jeremey said as he examined them, "I'ma be hurting for a while.." He poked the bruise on his stomach and grimaced in pain. He pulled his shirt back down and walked out of the shabby-looking restroom shuddering. Jeremey despised unsanitary places or people; they disgusted him.  
  
Jeremey walked back to his booth and sat down looking at his friends. Justin was still munching eagerly on his cheeseburger, while Petey and Kaylie sipped on their drinks. The door to the restaurant opened and Jeremey turned to see who was entering. He smiled as he recognized the face of another friend, Wesley.  
  
"Wesley, get over here." He motioned his hand toward the booth, "How you doin? You come in here to get some food too?" Wesley was about five-foot five-inches tall and had medium length dirty blonde hair and olive green eyes. Like everybody else at the booth, he had a short temper and had a great sense of humor; he also was a big Final Fantasy fan.   
  
"Just roaming man." Wesley said as he sat down beside Jeremey. "Oh yeah, check this out." He held up his hands to reveal black leather weight-lifting gloves with a steel plate on the knuckles. The steel was about a quarter-inch thick, and was oddly pliable. Jeremey raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Aren't these..?" Jeremey's voice trailed off as he looked the gloves over. Wesley smiled.  
  
"Zell's gloves from Final Fantasy 8." Wesley finished the sentence for him. Justin looked over to Wesley.  
  
"Another one?" He asked before looking at the last little chunk of his burger. He wanted to eat it, but his stomach felt like it was about to burst. He finally gave into temptation and grabbed it up and popped it into his mouth, chewing happily. "Don't they have a special name? Ugh..." His stomach suddenly started hurting. He laid his head on the table comically.  
  
"Yeah, but I can't remember the it." Jeremey said raising an eyebrow as he looked at Justin. He looked back at the gloves and smiled. "Wesley, check this out.." He held his hand under the table and summoned his gunblade. Wesley's eyes grew wide.  
  
"Whoa..." Wesley said trying to hide his excitement. "That's the fuggin gunblade dude.." Jeremey nodded.  
  
"And Kaylie's got that pinwheel thing and Justin's got the Brotherhood." He pointed to them as he dismissed his gunblade. Wesley tilted his head over.  
  
"The Brotherhood?" He asked, clearly puzzled. Jeremey laughed and then grabbed his side.  
  
"Ow.." He said, "Yeah, you know, that little blue sword from Final Fantasy 10?" Wesley nodded his head.  
  
"Oh.." He said, "Hey, did you guys hear about that old lady that got killed over by the library?" He asked enthusiastically. Jeremey looked up with a face full of remorse. His stomach pitched suddenly and he ran back to the restroom. He slammed the door, ran to the toilet, fell to his knees, and began vomiting.   
  
"No more.. Please.. No mo--" Jeremey pleaded to nobody before vomiting again. There was a knock at the door. "Yeah?" Jeremey called weakly from the toilet.  
  
"You alright in there?" Wesley asked him. Jeremey fell over onto the wall.   
  
"Yeah, I'm fine.." Jeremey replied weakly. "Ugh... That's never happened before.." He said to himself. The woman's face flashed in his mind again.  
  
"It wasn't your fault dude.." He told himself running his hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it out. "You didn't know she was there, there was nothing you could do.... I watched someone die... Fifteen year old teenagers aren't supposed to have that happen to them... Why is this happening to ME!?" He stood unsteadily and punched the wall, causing him to lose his balance and fall to his knees again.  
  
"Why me?" He sobbed pounding his fists on the floor. "Why the hell is this happening to me?!" He tried to stand but collapsed. His body felt like it was made of mush, his muscles didn't seem to work. Jeremey seemed to be drowning in hopelessness. He had lain on the floor for over a minute when his cell phone rang. He forced his arm to pull it out of his pocket and put it to his ear.  
  
"Hello?" He said into the phone. The voice on the other line was bursting with excitement.  
  
"Jeremey!" It was his best friend Chas, "Dude, you won't believe what just happened!" Jeremey somehow found the strength to sit up.   
  
"What?" Jeremey asked unenthusiastically into the phone. He had had enough with surprises.  
  
"You know that dude from Final Fantasy 7?!" Chas asked him excitedly. Jeremey's heart skipped a beat.  
  
"Cloud?" He asked. "Not him too.." He thought to himself. Something strange was happening. All of his closest friends had gotten a Final Fantasy weapon of some kind, excluding Petey.  
  
"Yeah!" Chas cried, "Well, um, I kinda got his sword. Don't ask me how it happened. Me and Millie were sitting here watching a movie when our hands started tingling and this HUGE sword appeared in my hand. Oh, Millie got something too. I don't know what is though." Jeremey could barely understand what he was saying he was talking so fast.   
  
"What's it look like?" Jeremey asked standing and walking slowly to the door. He guessed that the rest of the group was worried about him. He opened the door stood outside of it talking to Chas.  
  
"Um.. It looks like a tire iron, but with a hole in the middle and big blades on the ends." Chas reported to Jeremey. Jeremey closed his eyes, concentrating on who had a weapon like that.  
  
"Yuffie!" He cried and scratched the back of his head. "It's like a big ninja star. She throws it at the bad guys." He looked in the direction of his booth and waved at Kaylie and gave her the 'Give me a minute' signal. She nodded.  
  
"Ah.." Chas said. "Really strange looking.." Jeremey could practically see Chas looking it over. Suddenly, a thought struck him.  
  
"Chas." Jeremey started, "Listen, can you meet me at the middle school in about thirty minutes? I think there's something we have to discuss." Why he said the middle school, he didn't know. He guessed it was because he felt comfortable there.   
  
"The middle school?" Chas asked, obviously confused. "Why the middle school?" Jeremey smiled weakly and scratched the back of his head.  
  
"I don't know!" He replied annoyed slightly, "First thing that came to my head." Wesley walked over and asked Jeremey silently who he was talking to. Jeremey mouthed Chas.  
  
"Alright, whatever." Chas replied, "In thirty minutes right?" Jeremey could hear Chas opening the door to his parents' room and asking his dad to drop him off at the middle school.   
  
"Yeah, thirty minutes." Jeremey nodded as he said it. "And try not to be late." His eyes widened as he realized he didn't have a ride. He silently cursed himself.   
  
"He said yeah, as long as I can get a ride back." Chas reported to Jeremey, who instantly said yes. Jeremey kicked himself in the back of his leg.  
  
"Ow." He instinctively said. He had kicked himself harder than he intended to. "Anyway, yeah, you'll have your ride home." He cursed silently again.  
  
"Alright, see you there." Chas hung up and Jeremey did as well. He paused a moment and dialed in a number.  
  
"Maybe... Just maybe..." He said as someone answered. "Erik! Hey pal, hey anything weird happened to you lately? Like a big unusual weapon appear out of nowhere?" He spoke quickly.  
  
"Huh? Jeremey? How'd you know?" Jeremey's close friend asked. Jeremey heard Erik walk into his room and grunt as he lifted something heavy off of his bed. "It's some kind of heavy-ass sword. You're the expert in this kinda stuff. You know what it is don't you?" Jeremey smiled, Erik wasn't into Final Fantasy like the rest of the group.  
  
"Don't worry about it, listen," Jeremey started, "I need you to meet me at the middle school in thirty minutes?" Jeremey could here Erik asking him mom for a ride.  
  
"Yeah, sure." He replied, "I'm gonna need a ride home though, my mom's got some stuff to do and she says she can't wait around while we talk." Jeremey sighed and agreed to give Erik a ride home.  
  
"Dammit.." He said as he cut off his cell phone. "They're gonna be there in thirty minutes and where am I? I'm stuck twenty-five miles away in the smallest town in the world! Shoulda told them to meet me here..." He finished as he sat down at the booth and told the group what was going on.  
  
Even though his back, side, and stomach still hurt and the woman who had died still haunted his thoughts, he found himself wondering if the night could get any better. He had a real gunblade, he had fought and killed arguably the best Final Fantasy bad guy, and now he was on some kind of quest thing. But, he didn't have a ride. He sat pondering his quandary when the door to the restaurant opened and Jeremey turned to see his savior.   
  
One of his brother's old friends Jesse walked into the restaurant and picked up his order. Jesse was short, about five-foot six-inches tall, but he was built like a mini-Arnold. He had very short red hair, olive eyes, and the most explosive temper Jeremey had ever seen. Jeremey chuckled and looked around; it seemed like anybody hardly ate in the restaurant. He turned back to Wesley.  
  
"Dude, go ask him for a ride up there." He nodded in Jesse's direction. Wesley looked over to Jesse and back to Jeremey, his adversity to the idea so apparent Jeremey almost laughed.  
  
"Why me?" He asked quickly, standing up. Jeremey smiled and pointed at him.  
  
"Because you're his cousin and he'll listen to you." Jeremey said firmly, but with a smile on his face, his amusement apparent. "Now go."  
  
"Alright, whatever.." Wesley said as he turned to go talk to Jesse. They stood talking for maybe a minute and Wesley turned to give Jeremey a thumb's-up. Jeremey smiled and stood, walking out the door briskly and awaiting whatever came next with eager anticipation.  
  
* * *  
  
An injured and bewildered Sephiroth stumbled over to the pale green beam light emitting from the floor and going up to the ceiling; the only light in the dark cave. He coughed and blood spattered onto the floor. As he reached the light he stretched out his hand and put it into the light. When he did the wound on his chest healed slowly. Sephiroth looked down to see the skin reattaching itself.  
  
After the wound had healed Sephiroth closed his eyes and took a breath slowly, savoring his first normal breath in over half an hour. He opened his eyes and looked at the light. It gave off a warmth that made him feel secure, like nothing could hurt him. Of course he knew this wasn't true.  
  
"Show me the weapons." He commanded calmly. As soon as he did the beam split into three separate views: One of Chas and Millie, one of Erik, and one of Jeremey and the rest. Sephiroth frowned.  
  
"So, they're all here.." He said narrowing his eyes and leaning forward. "I had hoped that only the boy's and the other two weapons had made it.." He straightened up and turned at the sound of approaching footsteps.  
  
"So," A thick British accent cut through the air, "You finally made it. It seems as though that boy hurt you worse than I thought." The man finished as he stepped into the dim light. He was very handsome-looking, with shoulder length silver hair and piercing blue eyes. He stood about five-foot six-inches tall and was wearing very formal-looking purple and white garbs. He looked at Sephiroth and smiled mischievously.  
  
"Kuja.." Sephiroth growled through gritted teeth, "You saw then? How long have you been here?" Sephiroth despised Kuja, he was too cocky for Sephiroth's taste. Even so, he had to act like he didn't want to kill him for the sake of his plan. If he killed Kuja now, the entire plan would crumple. Sephiroth clenched his fist and took a deep breath.  
  
"Yes, I saw it." Kuja chuckled, "And I've been here for quite some time. I think I arrived directly after you did." He cocked his head to the side and smiled again.   
  
"Well, do you know what they're doing?!" Sephiroth barked angrily. He had no time for silly games. Kuja laughed mischievously and clasped his hands together.  
  
"Of course I do." He said walking to the opposite side of the light. "They're going to meet at they're middle school and discuss what's going on." His face suddenly turned serious as Sephiroth closed his eyes thinking about their next move. He knew Sephiroth had a plan already forming in his head. Kuja tried to wait patiently, but he couldn't stand it when people withheld information from him.   
  
"Send a Marlboro." Sephiroth finally said looking up. "Let's see how they fare against it." Kuja smiled happily and almost jumped for joy, but he held it in. He knew Sephiroth hated that about him. He simply nodded and walked off, disappearing in the darkness.  
  
* * *  
  
Chas looked up as the big, red F-150 pulled into the driveway of the middle school. It was dark, all except for the street lamps standing in various spots around it. The wind blew through the trees and made it seem like something was out there moving. Chas was tall, about five-foot ten-inches tall and had short blond hair and blue eyes. He was really thin and was very athletic. He had a great sense of humor and was very loyal. He looked over at Millie.  
  
Millie was short, about five-foot four-inches tall and had shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. She was also thin, very athletic, and was quiet. Both of them were fans of Final Fantasy. Chas raised an eyebrow as a golden F-250 pulled in behind the red truck. He recognized it as Erik's mom's truck.  
  
"What's he doing here?' He asked himself as Erik stepped out of the truck while Jeremey, Kaylie, Justin, Petey, and Wesley hopped out of the F-150. Erik's mom said something inaudible to Erik and drove off. Jeremey walked up to Erik and playfully punched him on the arm. Erik laughed and acted like he punched Jeremey in the face, to which Jeremey responded by acting like he had a hurt nose. Chas chuckled as the group walked over to him and Millie.  
  
"How's it going?" Jeremey asked Chas smiling broadly. "You guys do know why we're all here right?" He looked the group over. Kaylie, Justin, and Petey responded with nods while the others shrugged and shook their heads. Jeremey smiled, held his right hand out and summoned his gunblade.  
  
"How'd you do that?!" Chas asked him admiring the weapon. Jeremey told him and he tried it, as did the other five, excluding Petey. All their weapons appeared, all of them weapons Jeremey knew. He noted that both Chas and Millie had weapons from Final Fantasy 7. Chas had the Buster sword, Millie had the big ninja star, Jeremey couldn't remember the name, and Erik had Auron's Shimmering Blade from Final Fantasy 10.  
  
The Buster Sword was a huge weapon, the blade alone was five-feet long and about a foot wide. Near the base of the blade it had two holes about an inch in diameter. The blade was a dull silver color with a light blue tint and looked battle-worn. Millie's ninja star did indeed look like a tire iron. It was about four-feet long on each axis including the silver-blue blades, which were about a foot long. The rest was black and had a hole in the middle big enough to barely squeeze two fingers into.  
  
Erik's weapon, the Shimmering Blade was about five-feet long total and had a blade about four-feet. On the dull side of the blade it had a rounded out space near the base. The blade was a dull gray color with a bright yellow floral-looking design near the base. The hilt was decorated with a dark green and red design ending with a golden colored end. Jeremey told Erik how to hold it, with the rounded out space resting on his shoulder and remembered what the instruction manual had said about the sword: "It can easily split boulders in two."   
  
"Or something similar..." He thought to himself, "I can't remember anything nowadays." He looked the blade over again. He thought he heard a rustling in the tree line but counted it off as the wind. He took a few steps back and looked at the group and it's entirety. He slammed his gunblade into the ground, took a deep breath and began his idea of what was going on.  
  
"First off, I'd like to tell you all that you are holding Final Fantasy weapons." He started, looking at the group. "Why we have these weapons I don't know, but I can only guess that they are here to help us combat Sephiroth, or other Final Fantasy monsters or bad guys. Although I haven't seen anything to prove that point, I have a feeling that there are more out there." He paused a moment letting what he said sink in.  
  
"Furthermore, if we are to fight more monsters and crazy power-hungry bad-guys, we are to make up a plan to combat them, considering they could be anywhere in the world." Jeremey began again. "As of yet, I have no such plan and I am open for suggestions." He finished as he looked at the group with his hands behind his back. The group looked at each other searching for a reply.  
  
"Uh, what if we let the bad guys and monsters come to us?" Chas finally spoke up. Jeremey frowned, he had considered that too, but it could take a long time for that to happen.  
  
"That'd take too long..." Jeremey said turning to look at the tree line a little more than twenty yards away. "Did you guys hear that too?" He asked the group. It sounded as if a large creature was moving slowly through the woods. Jeremey squinted and peered into the darkness. His eyes went wide as he heard a sound as if something was spitting.  
  
"Ah!" He ducked as a huge spit ball came from the tree line. It flew past him and landed on Jesse's truck. Jeremey turned to look at the truck and saw that the liquid was burning through the hood of the truck. Jesse got out and began screaming about his truck hysterically. Jeremey raised an eyebrow and turned back to the tree line to see a creature from his nightmares slither out of the woods.  
  
"No way!" Jeremey exclaimed. "It's a Marlboro!!" He reached down and pulled his gunblade from the ground. The creature was bigger than he used to think it was. It stood about fifteen to twenty-feet high. It seemed to be nothing but a large green head slithering around on about fifty tentacles. It had two large tentacles coming from it's side and many more short ones on the top of it's head. It had no eyes that Jeremey could see, but it had a mouth with many, many large teeth that took up most of the head/body.  
  
"I hate these things.." Jeremey said as he looked back at the group. "You guys ready?" He said smiling nervously. Everyone nodded and readied themselves for battle. Everyone except Petey, who simply stood a few feet away with his arms crossed, envy rising in him. Jeremey took a deep breath, nodded and looked back at the Marlboro. It seemed to notice what was going on and growled. The sound reminded Jeremey of a lion's growl, only wet. He shuddered.  
  
"Nasty..." He said as he got ready for battle. "Alright, this is where it gets fun... C'mon guys, let's kill this thing!" He cried as he ran towards the Marlboro, the creature slithering back to keep some distance between them. Jeremey leapt up and swung his gunblade in an upper slice, letting the weight and momentum of the blade carry him up higher than he could jump, but the creature simply leaned back, letting the blade swing mere inches in front it's 'face' harmlessly. The Marlboro growled again and swung it's right tentacle, hitting Jeremey and knocking him away like a rag doll.  
  
"Ah!" Jeremey cried as he landed ten feet away. He looked to see the rest of the group attacking the Marlboro. Chas swung the Buster Sword at the area below the mouth, causing a long bloody line to form. The creature bellowed and pulled Chas off the ground with one of it's arm-tentacles. Chas screamed and hacked off the tentacle. Jeremey suddenly felt hands under his arms and he was pulled to his feet.  
  
"What the?!" He turned to see Petey standing there with his arms crossed. "Oh, thanks.." Jeremey said turning back to the skirmish; he had never been really good at giving thanks.   
  
"You're welcome." Petey replied, his voice without emotion. "Hey, watch yourself out there, next time you might now be so lucky.." Jeremey turned to look at Petey, his friend who had hardly ever shown emotion or concern, with a raised eyebrow. Instead of responding he simply nodded and charged towards the battle again.  
  
Jeremey jumped as one of the smaller bottom-tentacles reached out for his legs. He landed and his legs were suddenly pulled out from under him. The Marlboro lifted him up to the top of it's 'head' where six tentacles about a foot long emerged from the skin. On the end of them Jeremey was surprised to see red-gray eyes; they were about the size of a fist. All of them were focused on him, dangling upside down like a piece of meat.  
  
"Oh no..." Jeremey said as the Marlboro opened it's mouth hungrily. "I'm screwed.." The creature screamed suddenly and Jeremey looked down to see Erik hacking off two tentacles at a time. "Now's my chance..." Jeremey said to himself as he swung the gunblade and cut off 4 tentacle-eyes. The Marlboro screamed even louder and dropped Jeremey to the ground.  
  
"You alright?" Erik asked him helping him up with his free hand and holding on to the Shimmering Blade's hilt with the other. "That looked like a nasty fall.." Jeremey got up and looked to see Justin hacking slowly but surely through the solitary arm-tentacle. The creature, being overwhelmed, slithered back several feet and slapped Justin away with the tentacle hanging loosely off of it's body; strings of meat were all that held it.   
  
"Well," Jeremey said looking at Erik, "We're alright as long as it doesn't use it's...." His voice trailed off as he saw the Marlboro taking in a deep breath. "BAD BREATH ATTACK!!! Everybody get the hell outta the way!!" He shouted grabbing Erik by the arm and running like mad. The rest of the group scattered as the Marlboro blew a greenish-purple fog out of it's mouth. After thirty seconds the fog dissipated and Jeremey looked up from the ground where he had dove.  
  
"Looks like everybody's ok.." He observed. "Wait, is that? PETEY!" He shouted as he got up and ran over to Petey's convulsing body. His eyes were rolled back in his head, foam was coming out of his mouth, his skin looked a sickly green color. His eyes finally righted themselves and he looked at Jeremey with eyes black as coal. He tried to speak, but no words came out of his mouth, he couldn't move at all, although it seemed like he was trying.  
  
"What the hell's wrong with him?" Erik asked Jeremey, who shook his head in disbelief. Chas and the rest of the group ran up to see what was going on. Jesse walked up, looked down at Petey, turned and ran back to his truck.  
  
"Status ailments.." Jeremey looked Petey over. "That attack has a lot of effects on a character's status. Blindness, paralysis, poison, confusion, berserk, silence, and usually sleep.. I need two people to help me out.. Chas, Erik, come with me. The rest of you stay here and look after Petey, we have to kill this thing or he dies.." Jeremey said sternly as he stood and picked his gunblade up.  
  
The Marlboro stood ten yards away peering at Jeremey, Erik, and Chas with it's red-gray eyes. Jeremey looked at his two companions and nodded before the all charged simultaneously. They had a tacit plan that needed to be carried out with the utmost efficiency. Jeremey ran up to the Marlboro and stabbed it in the side while Chas laid the tip of his blade on the ground and held the sword up diagonally. Erik ran and jumped onto the blade using it as a steppingstone to jump over the Marlboro's head and brought his sword down between it's two eyes.  
  
The sword cut through the Marlboro like it was butter, slicing it all the way down to the ground. The creature ceased movement and faded away slowly, firefly-looking lights leaving it's body. Jeremey walked over to Erik and dismissed his gunblade.  
  
"Damn.." He said slapping Erik on the shoulder lightly. "That was cool as hell." Erik nodded. Jeremey turned suddenly and jogged over to the rest of the group. Petey's eyes and skin were returning to normal and he could move his hand and speak a little. He looked around and spotted Jeremey.  
  
"What the hell happened?" He asked Jeremey. "And what the hell do we do next?" Jeremey looked at the groups' faces staring at him waiting for and answer.He smiled nervously.  
  
"Heh," He replied scratching the back of his head. "We need to get the hell outta here first. Everybody ok?" He was greeted by head nods. He nodded his approval and walked over to the truck to talk to Jesse. 


	3. Calm Before The Storm

CALM BEFORE THE STORM  
  
"NO!" Sephiroth bellowed in anger, "No! Damn them!" He summoned the Masamune and severed a nearby boulder in half. It slid apart slowly as Kuja approached Sephiroth warily, twiddling his thumbs.  
  
"Please Sephiroth, calm down.." He said nervously, his voice shaking with apprehension. Sephiroth spun around to face him angrily. His hand found Kuja's throat, lifted him up, and slammed him into the wall of the cave easily. Kuja fumbled for Sephiroth's arm and he struggled for breath.   
  
"CALM DOWN?!" Sephiroth roared, "CALM DOWN?! Can your infantile mind even comprehend what this means?! Those children just defeated a Marlboro with weapons they haven't even had for two hours! Even the most experienced warriors have fallen to a Marlboro! No! I will NOT CALM DOWN!!!" He released Kuja suddenly and turned back to the beam of light in the middle of the cave. Kuja stood coughing and gasping for air, his face blue and his hair disheveled.  
  
"It will..." He panted, "It will be alright Sephiroth. Beginner's luck. But that's all they have.. Beginner's luck. But that luck will wear off soon.." He strode over to Sephiroth and peered into the light, which showed the group quarreling. He found himself smiling in spite of the pain in his neck and his lungs. Sephiroth's entire body was shaking with a restrained rage.  
  
"Kuja.." He said closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, "Find Garland, tell him his presence is requested immediately.." He finished shot Kuja a glance that would make any normal man recoil in fear. Kuja simply bowed and turned to walk away.  
  
"Yes sir." He said smiling like a child that had just gotten a new toy. When he had gotten out of Sephiroth's line of vision, he found himself skipping with joy.  
  
* * *  
  
"So, uh, we're stuck here?" Erik asked scratching the back of his head, "That sucks." He turned to the rest of the group and shrugged his shoulders. They had finally gotten a verdict from Jesse. The spitball had eaten through the hood and had corroded almost a fourth of the engine.  
  
"Yeah it does." Jesse said as he stood and wiped his hands off on a cloth, "I really liked this truck too. What the hell was that thing?" Chas shrugged, kicked a small rock, and turned to walk to the side of the road. He sat down and looked around. Jeremey, Justin, Kaylie, and Wesley were helping Petey recover from his recent ailments. Millie was nowhere to be found.  
  
"This has been a hell of a night.." He told himself putting his hands behind his head, laying on his back, and looking up at the stars. They seemed brighter than he had ever seen them. Jeremey walked over and sat beside Chas, who looked over at him with his eyes.  
  
"So we're stuck here?" Jeremey asked Chas, who nodded. "Hell, I coulda seen this coming.. So, what do you wanna do? Try and get a ride outta here or just hang out here till morning?" Chas shrugged and closed his eyes, thinking.  
  
"We can try and get a ride outta here," Chas said opening one eye and looking at Jeremey, "But then, there's nine of us, including Jesse and Petey, so we're gonna need something big, like a truck or maybe even a bus." He finished, closing his eye back. Jeremey nodded and looked down the road. It seemed like an endless stretch, he could see no headlights.   
  
"Usually this road's busy as hell." Jeremey said turning back to Chas, "But where are the cars and stuff when we really need them? This is bull." He stood, "I'ma go practice, I'm still not too used to the gunblade, wanna come?" Chas smiled, his eyes still closed and offered his hand to Jeremey, who helped him up. They started out to the field behind the woods where the Marlboro had come from.  
  
"Hey, can you guys try and get us a ride outta here?" Chas called to the rest of the group. The wind blew, ruffling Chas's shirt making it seem as though a wave was rolling through the tall grass. The rest of the group looked up and Justin raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah, sure." He said, "Where are you two going?" He stood, getting ready to follow them. Jeremey's eyes went wide.  
  
"Uh, we're gonna go look for a house back here." He replied quickly pointing to the tree line, "You stay here and wait for a ride." Justin stopped and turned toward the road with a defeated look on his face. Chas and Jeremey hastened their steps and didn't slow down until they had reached the edge of the field. They looked at each other and smiled.  
  
* * *  
  
"They want us to watch for a car while they go looking for a house?" Justin asked rhetorically, "That's bull. They get to have all the fun.." He sat down beside Petey. "How you feelin?" Petey looked at Justin as if he were stupid.  
  
"How the hell do you think I'm feeling you little bastard?!" Petey said through gritted teeth, "I was just blind, speechless, paralyzed, and poisoned! I was dying Justin! Do you know what that's like?! I don't think you do!" Petey stood and walked away angrily. His legs almost gave out underneath him, but they held.   
  
"Geez, what's his problem?" Justin asked embarrassed. The rest of the group simply looked at him. Erik stood and walked to the road, followed by Millie and Kaylie. Wesley sighed and laid on his back. He was tired, he had only had about nine hours of sleep in two days.  
  
"So tell me Justin." Wesley said staring up at the stars, "Where do you think this will lead?" It was a question he had thought about extensively since he had met up with Jeremey and the rest of the group. Justin shrugged his shoulders and laid on his back putting his hands behind his head.  
  
"Hell, I dunno." He said, "But wherever it leads, it has to be better than where we've been before. I mean, we might even save the world. How cool would that be?" Justin could already see it. They would be heralded as heroes. He had been waiting for this for years.  
  
"Whatever." Wesley said, "I could care less about saving the world, I got me some bad ass souvenirs, that's all that matters right now." He said looking at his gloves. Justin looked over and cocked his head to the side.  
  
"Are those things uncomfortable?" The question had been bothering him since he had seen Wesley wearing them. Wesley sat up and started taking one off.  
  
"Actually, no." He said handing it to Justin, "They have a lot of padding in there. It's quite comfortable." Justin put the glove on and opened and closed his hand.  
  
"Sweet." He said giving the glove back to Wesley. He was about to say something else when he heard Kaylie, Millie, and Erik flagging down a truck. The truck pulled over and Kaylie talked to the driver, who nodded. It was a big truck, a F-350, white with red lightning bolts stretching the entire length of the truck.   
  
"Hey Wesley, go get Jeremey and Chas, tell them we got a ride." Kaylie called to him. Wesley nodded, waved and started jogging off into the woods. Justin trudged up to the truck and began speaking to Erik.  
  
* * *  
  
Jeremey ducked as the Buster Sword swung toward his head. He stumbled back a few steps and stood in a defensive stance. His breath was labored and he was sweating like he had just run a marathon. He might as well have, Chas and him had been sparring against each other for almost five minutes.  
  
"Hey man." He panted, "You coulda taken my head off with that. You should be more careful, this isn't a real fight. You dunce." He laughed and charged at Chas, who was sweating profusely as well. Chas swung his weapon at Jeremey's legs and Jeremey responded by leaping into the air, spinning, and bringing down the blade of his weapon. Meanwhile Chas used the momentum from his attack to bring the Buster Sword up to block Jeremey's attack. The blades collided and sparks shot in all directions. They smiled at each other competitively.  
  
"That one coulda took my legs out." Jeremey said pressing down on the Buster Sword. Chas laughed and wiped the sweat on his forehead off on his left bicep.  
  
"I knew you'd jump." Chas replied changing the tide, now he was bearing down on Jeremey, who was smiling, happy to have some competition. Jeremey took a step back, the weight of Chas's weapon was immense.  
  
"What if I didn't jump? What then?"  
  
"I'da stopped."  
  
"Yeah right, not the way you were swinging!" Jeremey laughed as he pushed Chas off and backed up quickly, "Whew.. What do say we call a truce for now? I'm exhausted." Chas replied by nodding and sitting down.  
  
"Hey, how do you use the trigger on your gunblade?" Chas asked pointing to the weapon, "It's been bothering me for a while." Jeremey looked at it and rocked his head back. He looked back at Chas with a puzzled look.  
  
"Ya know, I haven't tried." He replied looking at the gunblade again, "In the game if you pull it when you attack something a small explosion thing happens." Jeremey then looked at a nearby tree. He charged the tree at full speed and when he reached it performed a diagonal upward-slash, pulling the trigger as he did. White light emitted the cut mark on the tree for a split second before a small explosion, like that of a cherry-bomb, occurred.  
  
"Sweet..." Jeremey said, looking at the hole in the tree. He heard Chas clapping and whistling and bowed mockingly. He heard a rustling in the trees behind him and took a defensive stance. Wesley emerged swatting at some mosquitoes. He looked up at Jeremey.  
  
"What the hell was that?" He asked looking at the hole in the tree. Jeremey laughed and dismissed his gunblade.  
  
"Oh, I was seeing what would happen if I pulled the trigger on my gunblade." He explained. Wesley nodded, still staring at the hole in the tree, deep in thought. Something suddenly shook him from his thought.  
  
"Oh yeah, we got a ride." Wesley pointed in the direction of the school with his thumb. Jeremey nodded and looked at Chas who was already getting up.   
  
"Let's go then." He said and all three of them started back to the road. Two minutes later they were walking up the hill to the road. A huge F-350 was what met them as they crested the hill. Jeremey's eyes widened.  
  
"That's a big truck." He said as he walked up to it and peered into the truck to meet the driver. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that nobody was in the truck.   
  
"Hey, I guess you're Jeremey." He heard a gruff voice call from behind him. Jeremey turned to see a tall man, about six-foot four-inches tall, walking up the hill. He had short brown hair with a receding hair line, stubbles on his face, making it seem like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and piercing blue eyes. He had a pair of goggles like old airplane pilots used to have on the top of his head. As he approached Jeremey noticed that he had a US Air Force necklace on.  
  
"That's me." Jeremey answered, "This is Chas and Wesley. I supposed you are the owner of this truck?" The man nodded and extended his hand.  
  
"That I am." He said as he shook hands with the three, "Name's Cid and sorry I wasn't actually here to greet you, I had to go... You know.." Cid pointed behind him with his thumb. At first, all Jeremey could think about was that he had shook this man's hand after he had relieved himself and there wasn't anywhere to wash his hands. But then, realization dawned on Jeremey.  
  
"You said your name's Cid?" Jeremey asked looking at the necklace as Cid nodded, "Were you in the Air Force?" Cid looked down and picked the necklace off his chest with his thumb and forefinger.   
  
"Yeah, I was in R&D." Cid said looking back at Jeremey, "They said I was a damn good pilot and mechanic too. I've looked at your friend's truck and unfortunately there's nothing I can do except call a tow truck, which I've done. " Jeremey smiled without realizing it. The rest of the group approached and Jeremey looked at them, then back to Cid.  
  
"So you're gonna betaking us home?" He asked Cid, who nodded, "Well, can we leave now?" He finished, still smiling. Cid nodded again and walked around to get into the driver's seat. Chas nudged Jeremey.  
  
"Why are you smiling?" He asked. Jeremey opened the passenger side door, waved goodbye to Jesse, who waited impatiently for the tow truck to arrive, and looked at Chas.  
  
"Dude, Cid." Jeremey said as he smiled at Kaylie, "Cid in the Final Fantasy video games is a pilot, mechanic, all that good stuff and this Cid is too." There was no more room in the back seat so Cid told Chas and Wesley they could sit in the bed of the truck.  
  
"Yeah, so?" Wesley asked as they walked to the tailgate. Jeremey closed his eyes and chuckled.  
  
"So, this could be a very lucky break for us." He replied as Chas and Wesley hopped into the bed of the truck. Chas waved him off.  
  
"Whatever." He said dismissingly, "Get in the truck so we can go." Jeremey smiled and walked back to the passenger side, hopped into the front seat and closed the door. Fifteen minutes later Jeremey and Cid were deep in conversation about Cid's work in the Air Force and after the Air Force. Jeremey was amazed at Cid's accomplishments and how unbelievably smart Cid was.  
  
"So, you starting developing aircrafts for NASA?" Jeremey asked Cid, his curiosity and excitement rising. Cid nodded.  
  
"Yeah, they wanted me to make a design for the fastest aircraft in the world." Cid replied, "It could go as fast and slow as you wanted and as low and high as you wanted. I drew up the design, it looked like something out of a futuristic movie. NASA said that they would not build it if it looked like that or some stupid crap like that; I don't get those people. So I told them to fund me and I'll build it. They gave me the funds and I started working on it." Jeremey's eyes were wide.  
  
"So what are you doing here in South Carolina?" He asked, "More importantly, in a rural area like this?" Cid laughed. Millie told Cid what road to turn down to get to her house.  
  
"I'm kinda on vacation." He replied, "Plus, I put the finishing touches on the air craft yesterday. I'm going up there tomorrow to test it out." Jeremey could barely contain his excitement.   
  
"Hey, would you mind if we tagged along tomorrow?" He asked Cid quickly, "I mean, we'd like to see it and, if it's not too much to ask, ride in it.." Cid looked at Jeremey as Millie told him where her driveway was. He pulled the truck into the driveway.  
  
"Um.." Cid thought about it, "Sure, I guess. If you kids don't mind getting up about 7:30 on a Saturday?" Jeremey got out and opened the third door for Millie to get out.   
  
"Not at all." Jeremey said looking at the group, who shrugged their shoulders and nodded. Jeremey looked back at Cid, "It would be a pleasure."  
  
* * *  
  
Sephiroth looked into the beam of light and mulled over what had happened in the past four hours. He heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Kuja coming hastily. Sephiroth cocked his head to the side.  
  
"Where's Garland?" He asked. Kuja was about to speak when they both heard more footsteps approaching, these with the distinctive clank of someone wearing a suit of armor. A man stepped into the dim green light and Sephiroth smiled. The man wore a light blue suit of armor, the helmet with large, yellow, bull-like horns protruding from the sides and the front covering up his entire face except for the area around the eyes about two inches in diameter around each eye with a small open space on the bridge of the nose going from one eye to the next. Inside those openings one could see nothing but darkness and the man's eyes glowing a dark yellow.  
  
"You called for me?" The man said in a deep voice that sounded as if there were two people speaking, one talking regularly and one whispering. The man looked as if he could bench press over 300 pounds. He turned to peer into the beam of light.  
  
"Yes Garland, I need you to help me." Sephiroth started, admiring the hulking man before him, "As I'm sure you know, the weapons seem to have gotten into this dimension as well, and we've been having some trouble exterminating the current owners. I want to have a crack at them." He pointed to the scene in the light, which showed Chas getting out of the bed of the truck. Garland looked from the scene to Sephiroth.  
  
"Children.." He said slowly, "You want me to fight children..?" Surely Sephiroth must be joking.   
  
"They may only be children," Sehpiroth replied slightly annoyed, "But they have already managed to kill a Marlboro." Garland's yellow eyes seemed to glow brighter at hearing the news.  
  
"A Marlboro you say.." He said looking back at the scene, " So be it... If you so want these children dead, I shall make it so." With that, he turned and walked back into the darkness, his ragged purple cape flowing behind him. Kuja turned to Sephiroth.  
  
"I'll go with him." He said starting to follow Garland. Sephiroth clenched his fists.  
  
"No you won't!" He bellowed angrily. Kuja turned back to Sephiroth with the face of a child who had just been told they couldn't have any candy.  
  
"But why not?" He asked with the same tone, "What if he can't handle them?" Sephiroth laughed.  
  
"You obviously don't know Garland like I do." He answered, "He will take care of them, trust me." 


	4. Dark Knight

Sorry it took so long to update. I've been really busy  
  
DARK KNIGHT  
  
The wind blew through the crowd, ruffling their shirts and messing up the women's hair; but they paid no heed, their attention was transfixed on the two figures before them, fighting for their lives. The two figures were engaged in a battle that seemed as though it was choreographed, neither one gaining the upper hand. The tall figure swung its blade at the shorter figure, who ducked and brought its blade up. The tall figure blocked and kicked the shorter figure into the light.  
  
"Crap.." Jeremey said as he landed and looked to see his gunblade sliding out of his reach and into darkness. He looked back to see Sephiroth step out of the shadows smiling. Jeremey knew why he was smiling: he had won, Jeremey had no weapon and he was sure nobody in the crowd would help him. Sephiroth brought his blade up and swung down with all his might for a killing blow.  
  
The gigantic sword came down slowly, so slowly Jeremey could have easily escaped. But he couldn't; he couldn't move, and it perplexed him. He was not tied down, nobody was holding him down. Yet, he could not move, he was caught in the spot he was in. Jeremey suddenly lost his patience.  
  
"Dammit!!" He screamed and the world around him cracked like glass and shattered, forcing Jeremey to fall into abyss. He fell for what seemed like hours before landing on ground with purple grass.  
  
"The hell?" Jeremey said taking in his surroundings. The sky was a dark red, the clouds a dark yellow. There was no sun and as Jeremey looked around he saw buildings to his left. He turned to walk to them when they suddenly melted like butter in a microwave. Jeremey stepped back and bumped into something. He turned, looked up and yelped as blood dripped onto his face. He wiped it off, looked up again, only to find Kaylie impaled through the chest on a pole as thick as his arm.  
  
"Kaylie..." He uttered in disbelief, "No.." He stepped back only to bump into something else. He turned and looked up to see Chas impaled in the same manner as Kaylie. Feeling nauseous, he turned to run away, only to be greeted by all of his friends impaled like Kaylie and Chas, their cold dead eyes staring at him. Suddenly, their mouths started to move, the words inaudible at first then rising until the ground seemed to shake under their voices.  
  
"Estuans interius ira vehementi.." They sung as Jeremey covered his ears, "Estuans interius ira vehementi.." Jeremey suddenly shuddered, a cold shiver going down his spine. He could hear laughter, Sephiroth's laughter, the world echoed with it. His friends' bodies screamed suddenly, still singing, "SEPHIROTH! SEPHIROTH!" Jeremey suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back and the blade of the Masamune exploded from his chest as his friends' bodies continued singing "Sors immanis, et inanis.." Sephiroth had impaled him; Jeremey looked behind him to see Sephiroth laughing. He pulled the sword out slowly, brought it up, and swung down with all his might.  
  
"NO!" Jeremey screamed as he woke up in a cold sweat. His pillow was soaked from the sweat. Jeremey brushed his fingers through his hair, his body shaking, "Hell of a dream.." He looked at the alarm clock, he had five minutes before it was supposed to wake him. He sat in his bed leaning on one elbow for a few moments before deciding to get ready early.  
  
"Ugh.." Jeremey uttered while swinging over the edge of the bed and climbing down the ladder of his bunk bed, "I see B.J. didn't come home last night.." He said to himself looking at his brother's empty bed. He shuffled sleepily to the alarm clock, cut it off, then to the bathroom and yawned as he started the shower up. As he got into the shower he winced and looked down at his stomach, seeing the bruise there even darker and more sensitive than it was the night before.  
  
The warm shower water was inviting and refreshing, Jeremey stayed in the shower longer than usual to savor it. He got out of the shower, dried off quickly, and walked back to his room to get dressed. The first shirt he picked out was a navy blue Spider-Man shirt, he then grabbed up his lucky boxers and his favorite pants. After that he looked at his light jacket with the stab hole in it, threw it to the side and picked up his Clemson hoodie. He quickly pulled on his socks, tied his shoes, and grabbed the sunglasses his brother gave him off his small television. Looking at the clock he realized he still had at least twenty minutes before Cid came to pick him up.  
  
"Geez.." Jeremey said sitting on his brother's bed, "What can I do for twenty minutes...? Oh yeah, I gotta pack." He walked over to his small white dresser, which had his brother's CD player on top of it, opened his drawer, and started pulling out his favorite shirts and pants. He then pulled out a few boxers and stuffed all of them into his old book bag, neatly folding them so the book bag wouldn't bulge.  
  
"I am way too neat.." Jeremey said shaking his head, "Um.. Still got about fifteen minutes... Whatever.." He walked over to the corner of his room, picked up his guitar, sat down on B.J.'s bed again, and played for the rest of the time, getting angry when he hit the wrong fret. He sighed and laughed.  
  
"Damn perfectionism.." Jeremey looked down at his guitar and thought about taking it with him, but then thought better of it. He heard a truck pull into the yard. He got up slowly, walked over to the front door, looked in the direction of his parents' room, smiled despondently, and finally walked out the door quietly, waving at Cid.  
  
"Damn alarm clock.." Kaylie said annoyed and slammed her fist down onto the snooze button on the alarm clock. She rolled out of bed and began to get dressed, she had taken a shower the night before. As she pulled her pants on she thought about Jeremey and sighed. She loved him, but she didn't know if he loved her back. He said he did, but sometimes it just seemed like he was ashamed of her.  
  
"No, he has to love me." Kaylie said, pulling on a shirt stating 'Hottie', "If he says he loves me, he does. He just hasn't had a girlfriend in a while, he doesn't know how to act.." She walked over to her dresser and stared at her Lord of the Rings pewter collection distantly.  
  
"Well Kaylie," She said to herself, "You got your adventure, make the best of it." She snatched up her diary and wrote in it for about two minutes when she heard Cid's truck pull into her yard. She got up, walked to her front door patting her dog on the head and stroking her cat one last time before stepping outside and smiling as Jeremey opened the door to the truck for her.  
  
Chas's dad opened the door and tapped him on the shoulder. Chas opened his eyes drowsily and shook his head.  
  
"Hey, you told me to wake you up at 7:00. Better get up." His dad commanded. Chas merely nodded his head and lazily rolled out of bed. He sat on the edge of the bed looking around his room, he wasn't much of a morning person. He shuffled sleepily to the bathroom, and started the shower. While he was waiting for the water warm up he turned and relieved himself in the toilet.  
  
"Damn," He said yawning, "I need to stop staying up so late." He stepped into the shower and closed his eyes, savoring the warm water. Someone knocked on the wall beside him and he nearly fell out of the shower.   
  
"Chas!" His dad called from the bedroom, "Don't forget to brush your teeth before you leave!" Chas smiled angrily and nodded.  
  
"Okay dad!" He shouted back. He washed quickly and stepped out of the shower. Drying quickly he walked to his room and quickly dressed himself. He looked over to the clock on his wall and sighed as he realized he still probably had about ten minutes before Cid arrived. Walking over to his CD player he inserted Metallica's Black Album and laid on his bed with his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he woke his dad was standing over him.  
  
"Wake up," He said, "Your ride's here." Chas blinked and rose slowly yawning.  
  
"I fell asleep?" He asked his dad groggily. His dad nodded and walked out of the room. Chas tripped going down the steps and nearly fell. He walked out the front door and was greeted by Jeremey hanging out the door of Cid's truck.  
  
"Damn man, what's the hold up?" Jeremey said smiling, "We've been out here forever." Chas closed his right eye and smiled.  
  
"Had to get my beauty sleep man." Chas replied to which Jeremey laughed.  
  
"It's not working." Jeremey laughed, "Let's go man." Chas nodded and ran to the truck.  
  
Millie awoke to the sound of a horn honking in the yard. She looked at the clock, which read 8:00.  
  
"CRAP!" She exclaimed jumping out of bed and pulling on the clothes she had laid out the night before. She didn't set her alarm because she thought someone would wake her up before Cid came. She was wrong.  
  
"You can't count on anybody.." She said angrily and gloomily. Millie was afraid of commitment. She didn't even like going out with Chas, but she was too afraid that she'd hurt him to tell him. Jogging, she snatched up her back pack and bolted out of the door. Once outside she looked up to see Chas waiting for her at the truck and forced a smile.  
  
Three hours later Jeremey, Kaylie, Chas, and Millie sat in the back seat, deep in conversation while Wesley sat in front talking to Cid. Jeremey looked over to Chas.  
  
"You hear this man?" He smiled, "Kaylie says she wants first crack at the next monster or whatever we fight." He looked back at Kaylie mischievously. Kaylie stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled even wider.  
  
"I do too." Millie chimed in. Kaylie nodded her head and pointed at Millie with a 'I told you so' face. Millie smiled and looked down. Chas had tried to hold her hand three times and each time she turned away or made up an excuse not to. Chas was looking downcast, Jeremey noticed it, but didn't ask him. Millie had noticed the way Jeremeyavoided situations where he or another could end up hurt. He was afraid of hurting people, as was everyone, but Jeremey was terrified of it. She also noted that when someone said something about the previous night his face would shift from happy to depressed, then back again quickly.  
  
"Alright," He was saying suddenly, "The next bad guy we meet, you two will have first crack at it. Fair?" He looked at each of them.  
  
"Fair." Millie and Kaylie said simultaneously. The truck came to a stop slowly. Jeremey looked out the window to see the ocean about fifty yards away and a dock about thirty. Tied to the dock was a fairly big boat that was white with red lightning bolts running the entire length. Jeremey raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You like red lightning don't you?" He smiled. Cid laughed and opened the door, hopping onto the ground.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." The back door opened up and Jeremey leapt out. Erik, Justin, and Petey leapt off the back of the truck and Erik stretched.  
  
"Geez," He looked around, "All the way to a beach on the back of a truck.." He looked to the dock. "So, is that how we're going to get to the aircraft, or have you stealthily hid it here somewhere?" Erik grinned and looked at Cid, who chuckled.   
  
"No," Cid replied scratching the back of his head, "It's about a thirty minute ride out there on an old oil rig." He pointed toward the horizon. Wesley's face went pale and his eyes widened.  
  
"Y-you mean, an oil rig?" He stammered, "L-like the big tall things that are in the middle of the ocean?" Cid nodded. Jeremey turned to looked at Wesley and remembered something.  
  
"Oh yeah!" He said slapping himself on the forehead, "Wesley's afraid of heights. But it should be alright, I mean, when we go up we'll be safe right?" He finished with a tone of optimism in his voice.  
  
"Yeah," Cid replied, "We'll be safer than on any airplane." Wesley nodded but still had a shook up air about him.   
  
"Shall we?" Jeremey motioned with his hands toward the pier. They all started toward the pier. Stepping onto it Jeremey noticed it was fairly old. The boards creaked when he stepped on them. "The airship might be safe, but dunno about this pier..." He said to himself smiling. As they hopped into the boat out started out to sea they didn't even notice the sky darkening and the plants wilting as a tall figure stepped out of the forest eighty yards away, it's yellow eyes glowing brightly.   
  
Twenty five minutes later they were approaching the oil rig. Wesley's face seemed to get paler by the minute. Justin looked at Petey and frowned.  
  
"Why's he here?" He asked Jeremey with a disgusted tone. Jeremey glared at Justin for a moment.  
  
"Cause he's our friend." He replied, "And he's with us, whether he wants to be or not." Justin wrinkled his nose and looked back at Petey.  
  
"He doesn't have a weapon." He said looking back at Jeremey. "What's the point of having him with us?" Jeremey clenched his fists.  
  
"Because he's my fuggin friend!" He said through gritted teeth, "If you have a problem with it you can get the hell out right now." Justin had a face of someone who's life had just been threatened when he turned and sat back down. Millie had been watching the entire exchange.  
  
"At least he's loyal to his friends.." She said to herself looking at Chas standing on the side of the boat staring out to sea forlornly. She sighed and stared at the floor the rest of the ride.  
  
Finally they were below the oil rig approaching the elevator to the top. Jeremey stared up with an awe-struck expression. The rig was huge; jutting out at least sixty to seventy feet out of the water. He noticed earlier that most the towers like he had seen on pictures of oil rigs were missing from this one.  
  
"Uh, Cid." Jeremey started as they all piled into the elevator, "Where's all the towers and stuff that are usually on oil rigs?" Cid looked him in the face.  
  
"Well, like I said, this is an old oil rig." He replied, "Most of 'em probably got rusty and collapsed and fell into the ocean." Jeremey nodded, looking up, anxious to see the airship. When they reached the top Jeremey was the first one to step out. He rocked his head back at the sight of how large the platform was. It spanned at least 200 yards across on each side. Jeremey then saw what he came to see: the airship.  
  
It was huge, around 150 feet long and over seventy feet high. On the front was a big glass dome where Jeremey could make out a seat and an old fashioned steering wheel like someone would find on a pirate ship in the movies. Near the bottom of the ship there were windows about six to seven feet high and stretching almost the entire length of the airship, the door to the inside directly behind them near the back. The wings on each side were short only about forty feet long, giving the airship an eighty foot wingspan. It was colored gray on the top and bottom, the middle of the ship being white. On the top at the back was a fin that curved forward like a scorpion's tail though not as long.  
  
"Sweet..." Jeremey said looking at the fin, which had a black flame painted on it, "You've outdone yourself Cid.." He looked back and saw that everyone else was gawking at the ship as well, save for Petey, who simply looked at it with his arms crossed.  
  
"Yeah," Cid said walking up to the ship and tapping it, "This is the same kinda material used on spacecrafts so they don't burn up coming back into the atmosphere. She also uses the same kinda thrusters." He pointed to the back of the ship where Jeremey could see three large thrusters on the back.  
  
"What kinda fuel does it use?" Chas asked suddenly. Cid nodded and Jeremey thought he looked like a tour guide answering questions about a statue or something.  
  
"This is what I find interesting.." Cid started, "NASA has developed a kind of fuel that doesn't burn as much and pollutes less. They said a car could go on half-a-gallon of the stuff for over ten years."   
  
"Impossible!" Jeremey said disbelievingly. Cid turned to him and smiled.  
  
"I thought that too, until I saw it for myself. I've had a half-gallon of that stuff in my truck for three years and I've never had to refill." Chas frowned.  
  
"Then why haven't they released it to the public?" Jeremey looked back at him and nodded.  
  
"Because it'll cost too much. Think about it." Cid replied laughing. The group nodded. "And another thing, NASA said-- Who's that?" He pointed behind the group.  
  
Jeremey and the rest turned to see a man in a blue suit of armor and a cape walking toward them from the other side of the platform with a sword. Jeremey looked at Chas and Justin.  
  
"Garland.." Justin said, awe-struck. Jeremey then looked to Kaylie and Mille.  
  
"Have at him. We got your back." He nodded to the rest of the group. Millie and Kaylie nodded and took three steps before summoning their weapons.   
  
"Nervous?" Kaylie asked Millie, who nodded, "Me too." Garland stopped walking about twenty yards away and simply stood staring at them. Kaylie looked at Millie and nodded pointing her fist toward Garland, placing her left hand under he right forearm and pressing the trigger on the side of the pinwheel. The blade fire off with astonishing speed and Millie spun around twice before throwing the ninja star. The weapons flew at Garland, who merely stood, unmoving.  
  
Suddenly, with lightning-fast speed, he grabbed the saw-blade with his left hand and struck the ninja star with the sword sending it sliding back across the platform to Millie, who picked it up and dismissed it, awe-struck. He examined the saw blade for a moment before flinging it back to Kaylie like a frisbee. Kaylie could do nothing but stare at the saw blade coming toward her and suddenly Jeremey's weapon came down, knocking the saw blade to the floor. Kaylie picked it up and locked it back into place on her forearm before dismissing it.  
  
"Happy?" Jeremey asked her, "That was new... Get on the airship. Cid? Start this thing up and get us outta here." Cid was already opening the door to the airship.  
  
"It'll take a little while." He replied. Jeremey looked back at him.  
  
"How much of a little while?"  
  
"About three minutes." Jeremey sighed angrily and nodded.  
  
"I'll give you your three minutes." He said, "Who wants this guy? Okay, Justin. Who else? Nobody? How bout you Chas?" Chas looked up.  
  
"Sure, I'd love to." He replied unenthusiastically. Jeremey cocked his head over.  
  
"You don't have to if you don't want to dude." Chas's expression changed quickly, he now looked determined.  
  
"No, I'm going." Jeremey nodded smiling.  
  
"Alright," Jeremey said sternly, "Everybody else on the airship." Everybody responded quickly, walking through the door to the inside.  
  
"Remember, kid!" Cid called before going inside, "Three minutes!" Jeremey nodded and looked to Justin and Chas as the door closed.  
  
"Geez man," He started, "I'm nervous as hell. Last time I fought a guy with a sword like that I almost got killed." He looked to Garland, who was still standing, waiting for them to attack. The airship started to hum loudly, the engine starting to warm up, "Alright guys, three minutes.. That's it. After that we get the hell out. Got me?" Chas and Justin nodded, their faces pale.  
  
They started slowly toward Garland and stopped about twenty feet away. Justin and Chas summoned their weapons. Garland looked them over slowly.  
  
"I suppose you are the ones who are going to fight me?" He asked them. Jeremey shuddered as he realized that Garland had a dual voice.  
  
"Creepy.." He said to himself, "Yeah, that's us! You guys ready?" He looked at Justin and Chas.  
  
"T-that's a nice sword." Justin said to Garland, trying to stay calm. Garland looked at it. It was a Scottish claymore looking sword with a golden blade and a red hilt. There were two small blades protruding from the hilt guard. The blade seemed to be glowing black.  
  
"Yes, this is the sword of Ragnarok." Garland said lowering the weapon and looking at them, "It has destroyed entire cities." Jeremey looked over to Justin, who heart seemed to sink at hearing this.  
  
"Yeah, whatever." Jeremey said raising his weapon, "Let's go!" With that they charged simultaneously at Garland and attacked him. It seemed like a ballet, Chas swung the Buster Sword horizontally to the right, Justin swung the Brotherhood horizontally to the left, Jeremey ducked as the two blades swung past him and brought the gunblade up in a uppercut slash. Garland easily blocked all three attacks.  
  
Still they continued attacking, Garland blocking all of their attacks. Finally, Garland swung his weapon like a baseball batter and hit Justin as he brought his sword up to block and as the blades collided the air seemed to warp in a bubble shape and Justin was knocked back thirty feet, then he did the same to Chas. He finally brought the blade up and then down on Jeremey, who leapt to the right, out of the way. As the blade hit the platform a large crack formed, emitting black light.  
  
"Whoa." Jeremey said looking at it before charging Garland again. They fought for what seemed like an hour to Jeremey. "Geez, isn't three minutes up?!" He asked countering a lunge. The battle led to near the edge of the platform and Garland's eyes glowed brighter with every collision of blades. Finally Jeremey swung at Garland and their blades seemed to be stuck together, each person bearing down on the other.  
  
"You're good boy." Garland said, "I like your perseverance, but it WILL be your downfall." Jeremey grinned and looked behind Garland to see Chas approaching.  
  
"Probably, but not today." Jeremey said chancing another glance at Chas, who was already swinging his weapon. Garland knew what was happening and ducked, leaving Jeremey open for the attack. Jeremey quickly brought the gunblade up to block and stumbled back a few steps from the force of the blow. Garland stood and turned to look at a surprised Chas.  
  
"Shite.." Chas said as Garland attacked him, swinging the blade horizontally. Chas brought the blade up and was knocked aside and Garland was about to pursue him when Justin attacked to his left. Garland blocked the attack easily and hit Justin with the back of his hand, knocking him away. He stood staring at Justin for a moment and was about to continue when he heard footsteps running toward him. He turned just in time to see Jeremey jumping in the air.  
  
"Asshole!" He bellowed and drop kicked Garland in the chest, sending him stumbling over the edge of the platform. He landed on his side and got up quickly. Chas and Justin approached him from the sides.  
  
"What now?" Justin asked. Jeremey looked over the edge of the platform.  
  
"Crap.." He said looking at Garland holding on to one of the braces with his left hand looking up at them, his eyes flashing angrily. "Um, you guys should get on the airship, Garland's still down there." He nodded to the edge. Justin and Chas turned and started back to the ship without question. Jeremey was turning back to look at Garland again when a blue and purple blur shot upward in front of him. He looked up to see Garland turning his blade downward in the same manner that Sephiroth had used the night before to try and kill Jeremey.  
  
"Not good.." Jeremey said staring at Garland coming down, "Not good at all.." He tried to run but his body would not move. He could only stare at Garland coming down on him. Suddenly the ship started up and Jeremey snapped out of his trance to leapt out of the way just in time as Garland slammed into the platform. As the blade punctured the floor of the platform at black light exploded from it. Jeremey turned and ran to the airship.  
  
"Go!" He screamed, "GO!" The airship lifted off of the platform and slowly started to move as Garland stood and began running toward Jeremey, who looked back and yelped in fear. Running faster than he ever had in his life he looked up to see Kaylie in the doorway of the airship telling him to hurry. The airship was about seven to eight feet away from the end of the platform, ready to leave.  
  
"I only got one shot at this..." Jeremey said dismissing his gunblade and pushed forward faster hearing Garland gaining on him. He reached the end of the platform and dove into the door of the ship, barely making it.  
  
"Go!!!" He screamed as he landed on the floor and the door closed. Garland skidded to a stop barely a foot from the edge and watched as the airship took off quickly.   
  
"Damn..." He said watching it fly away, his ragged purple cape blowing in the strong wind left behind by the airship.  
  
NOTE: The song the dead bodies were singing in the dream is Sephiroth's One-Winged Angel theme, just in case you didn't know. A very superb song if you've never heard it. 


	5. Firecracker

FIRECRACKER  
  
"I thought you said he would take care of them?" Kuja asked mockingly. Sephiroth simply stared into the light watching the airship fly away. Suddenly something snapped within him. His fists clenched tighter than they had ever had and his pupils contracted.   
  
"GARLAND!!!" He roared as black lightning crackled all around his body. They heard the distinctive clank of someone wearing armor approaching. Sephiroth spun around to be greeted by the glowing eyes of Garland.  
  
"Yes?" He asked Sephiroth, who closed his eyes and breathed deeply trying to calm down. Garland was one of his closest friends and probably the second to Sephiroth in fighting skills, he did not want to lose his best fighter simply because he lost his temper.  
  
"What.." Sephiroth breathed deeply again, his anger slowly subsiding,   
  
"Happened? You are supposed to be the greatest knight in all the world, and yet you were beaten by children?" Garland's eyes flashed angrily.  
  
"I asked myself the same question many times coming here." Garland replied looking into the light as Kuja manipulated it to show the interior of the airship. "The boy, the one with the gunblade.. He has a strong spirit that seems to give the others the will to fight on.. He has the mark of a hero.." Sephiroth nodded, he had seen the same thing in the boy. He turned back to the light, seeing the boy without a weapon hammering away at a punching bag inside the recreation area of the ship. A fierce anger could be seen in his eyes.  
  
"Then we'll just have to krush his spirit now won't we?" A sultry thick Russian accent came from the shadows making Sephiroth smile. The click click of a woman wearing high heels echoed through the cave. A woman standing about five foot six approached the men gathered at the light. Her long silver-green hair was pinned up to form two three-foot spikes coming out on each side of her head and two long strands coming down in from of her face in the style of Sephiroth's, only much longer, ending at her hips.   
  
"Ultimecia, welcome." Sephiroth turned to look at the new arrival. She was wearing a blood red nightgown-looking dress that had black feathers coming down to cover up what would have been a very exposing v-cut in the dress. Her gray eyes searched the room until they found the beam in the middle of the cave. She approached it and Garland noticed the purple designs on her face, wavy purple spikes that started on both sides of the top of the nose, going up the hairline and coming back down her cheeks ending about a half-inch from her full, luscious lips.   
  
"That boy.." She commented and ragged black bird-like wings, which had went unnoticed earlier because of her beauty, flapped once affirming that she had an interest in the scene, "He seems to be a little firekracker.." Sephiroth nodded seeing the anger building in the boy.  
  
"Yes," He turned to her and stared into her eyes. She aroused feelings in him that no other could; not sexual feelings, but other feelings, feelings he could not explain. "Maybe you could be the one to light the fuse? Do you still have the other weapon?" Ultimecia nodded, turned, and walked into the darkness, presumably going to fulfill the plan that Sephiroth had conceived without him even telling her the details.  
  
"Man, this place is nice." Jeremey said to Kaylie while looking around the huge hallway holding her hand, "Like some kinda big hotel. Even got a little cafeteria and recreation room." Wesley ran to him and Kaylie excitedly.   
  
"Yeah, it's got bedrooms too!" He told Jeremey, who rocked his head back. Wesley turned and jogged away while Jeremey looked around once more, taking in the area he was in. The floor had a crimson red carpet and the walls were decorated with various paintings. In some area of the walls there were large different colored arrows telling which way to go to get to the bridge, door, bedrooms, recreation room and other things. He noticed a staircase leading up and saw a green arrow on the wall that was labeled "Living Quarters".  
  
"This is too cool.." He looked at Kaylie and smiled, "Love you." Something that resembled hope and sadness mixed into one flashed across Kaylie's eyes. "Something wrong?" Kaylie looked at him and seemed to force a smile.  
  
"No, I'm fine.." She said, her voice saying a different story, "Love you too baby." Jeremey was about to inquire again but saw Millie walking down the steps slowly, her face full of worry and thought. He knew something was wrong.  
  
"Kaylie, I'll be right back." She nodded and turned to watch him leave. He walked over to Millie, who had just left the stepped off the stairs. "Where's Chas? Everything all right?" Millie looked up at him, frowned, and nodded.  
  
"He's in room 003." She looked at Kaylie, turned and walked to her without saying another word to Jeremey. Jeremey looked to Millie and Kaylie to the stairs and proceeded to climb the steps to talk to Chas. When he got up the stairs we walked down another long hallway. Passing a pair of open double doors he looked inside to see Petey hammering away at a punching bag viciously and Erik and Justin playing pool while Wesley served as a spectator. It was then that he noticed how smooth the ride was on he airship he hadn't felt a bump yet. He shrugged and continued to the bedroom area.  
  
"Ah, there we go." Jeremey said to himself as he reached room 003. Knocking on the door lightly he then opening it he was greeted by a scene of Chas sulking on the bed. "What's wrong dude?" Chas looked up and smiled sadly.  
  
"I'm glad to see you man.." He said, "C'mon, have a seat." Jeremey walked in and closed the door before sitting down at a desk across from the bed and taking in his surroundings. The room was about as big as his bedroom at home, just enough room to operate comfortably. The bed was a bunk bed seemingly built into the wall, the bed sheets on the bottom bunk were a dark crimson color with white pillows while the top bunk had green bed sheets and white pillows.  
  
"Cid REALLY put a lot into this crap.." Jeremey said to himself before turning to Chas, "So what's wrong?" Chas forced a smile before looking to the floor and sighing.  
  
"It's my relationship." He said, "She acts like she doesn't even wanna be near me. It's killing me man, and I don't know how to fix it. She won't talk about it, she won't.... I-I just don't know.." Jeremey noted tears developing in Chas's eyes. He nodded solemnly looking at the floor and looked back up to Chas.  
  
"Why can't you talk to her about it?" He asked, "I mean, if you want this relationship to work you'll have to talk about this stuff." He remembered Kaylie's face not even five minutes earlier. Chas leaned back on the bed and sighed again.  
  
"She won't talk about it." He put his hands behind his head, his voice becoming shaky, "You how she is. She doesn't want to talk about these kind of things." Jeremey nodded again and looked around the room again, noticing a vent in the ceiling.  
  
"Listen, all I have to say is that you should sit her down and talk about what's bothering you and both of you should come up with a solution together. If that can't work, I dunno what will. If it does everything will be alright." Chas looked at him a long time before replying.  
  
"You're right." He said chuckling, "You always are about these kind of things. How do you stay so optimistic?" Jeremey smiled sullenly. He got up and walked to the door opening it.  
  
"I dunno," He said nodding his head in the direction of the hallway, "It's a gift and a curse. C'mon, let me give you a tour of the ship." Chas got up and followed him out of the room seemingly with a new spark of life in him. They passed by the room and Jeremey noticed the sign above the door "Recreation Room". Walking in he noted that Petey was still beating the punching bag relentlessly and it was now Justin and Wesley playing pool while Erik served as a spectator. Jeremey clasped his hands together.  
  
"Hey guys, wanna go on a super-exclusive tour of Cid's airship?" Everyone looked up except Petey, who continued to pound on the punching bag, sweating profusely. Wesley turned to look at Jeremey and smiled.  
  
"We already toured the ship." He replied leaning against the table and looking at Petey. Jeremey smiled.  
  
"Well take me on a tour." He said looking at Petey, "I haven't seen it all. Besides, we need to get sad and droopy here to perk up and I need to talk to Cid." Wesley turned to look at Justin, then to Erik, who shrugged. Wesley then turned back to Jeremey.   
  
"I guess." He turned and placed the pool stick back on the table, "We can finish this later." Justin nodded and followed Wesley, Jeremey, and Chas out of the door. Erik was the last one to leave, he turned to Petey.  
  
"Hey, you coming?" He asked Petey, who paid no heed to the words. Erik cocked his head to the side and asked again, "You coming or not?" Petey's blue eyes flashed angrily and he beat the punching bag harder.  
  
"NO!" He snapped at Erik, "Now go away and leave me the hell alone!" Erik rocked his head back and turned to walk out of the room slowly, eying Petey warily. After he had left Petey stopped and wiped his forehead with the back of his forearm.  
  
"Whew." He looked around the room and back to the punching bag. He was about to start punching it again when he heard high heels in the back of the room.  
  
"You are an easy one to piss off aren't you?" A woman with a thick Russian accent said stepping out from behind a coke machine. Petey eyed her suspiciously, she had long flowing silver-green hair down to her hips and yellow eyes.   
  
"Nice tattoos." He said to her noticing the designs on her face. The woman smiled seductively.  
  
"I noticed you do not have a weapon like your friends do." She said, to which Petey frowned angrily and the woman smiled as if she was amused.  
  
"Who are you and why do you care?!" He spat out before commencing to beat on the punching bag again. The woman walk over to him and put her hands on his shoulders and he stopped for some reason. He didn't know why, he just stopped.  
  
"I am Ultimecia and I kare because I want to help you my young and improperly treated friend." Petey looked at her without turning around.  
  
"Go on.." He said turning to her as she backed away and sat on the pool table.  
  
"You did not get a weapon, so the others look down upon you." She said looking into his eyes with burning yellow eyes. "But you, you are the one they need to be taking orders from, not that foolish brown-headed boy. They treat you like a friend to your face, but when you turn your back their tongues tell different stories. They see you as extra baggage, a burden, instead of what you truly are, they're leader." Petey shook his head.  
  
"No, Jeremey's my friend, he would never do that." Ultimecia smiled and rolled a random pool ball into one of the corner pockets.  
  
"Oh?" She replied, "Is he? I kan hear them now. The black-headed boy is saying you should not be here and Jeremey is agreeing. The short one is saying that if you had a weapon he would have to take it from you bekause you wouldn't know how to use it. They do not seem like friends to me?" Petey turned and punched the punching bag hard, sending it flying back and then swinging back to him, to which he let it hit him, he could feel nothing now, his heart had gone cold to feeling and so did his body.  
  
"If I had a weapon..." He said looking from his hands to Ultimecia, "I'd kill all of them... But honorably, not in their sleep. They'd pay, oh they would pay dearly... I know this sounds harsh, but what they're doing is worse..." Ultimecia's face seemed to glow at hearing the words.  
  
"You know," She started hopping off of the pool table and walking to him, "I think I have just the thing. I brought with me a little gift." She held her hand out and a weapon appeared. Petey looked it over intently.   
  
It was a gunblade, but unlike Jeremey's, it had the body style of a 9mm Beretta handgun instead of a revolver. It was a one-handed weapon and the blade was shaped weird, Petey had never seen anything like it. It was shaped regularly near the front but when the blade came closer to the handle it widened out and stopped about five inches from the handle, curved upwards about three inches, inward about a half-inch and came back to the 'barrel' One the widest part of the blade there were three holes spaced out to form and upside-down triangle about an inch long on all three sides .  
  
"What's this?" Petey asked skeptically. Ultimecia held the weapon out for him to take it.  
  
"This is the Hyperion and it is yours." Petey took the weapon slowly, cautiously. "For your vengeance, for you to prove who is superior. Take it boy, and you will be forever remembered." Petey looked at her then back to the Hyperion.   
  
"How will I know when to use it?" He asked Ultimecia and she shrugged, turning to walk out the doors.  
  
"You will know boy." She said as walked out the doors waving good-bye without turning around, "You will know." Petey watched her walk out and considered following her but then thought better of it. He looked at the gift and swung it around playfully a few times before dismissing it and walking over to the pool table to play a game.  
  
Meanwhile the 'tour' was wrapping up and Jeremey was in another argument with Justin. They approached the cockpit where Cid was steering the ship.  
  
"I'm telling you man," Jeremey said to Justin more than slightly annoyed, "I don't care if he doesn't have a weapon, he's my friend and I think he should be included in this!" Justin was about to reply when he decided it would be better to just shut up, he couldn't out-argue Jeremey. They reached the cockpit and the door opened by itself.  
  
"Hey Cid old buddy!" Jeremey walked in and patted him on the shoulder, "How you doin up here by yourself?" He looked out the big glass dome where he could see the terrain outside whizzing by.  
  
"Great." Cid said scratching his head, "Except one thing.. What the HELL was that thing on the oil rig?!" Jeremey rocked his head and looked to the others.  
  
"Well, if you insist on knowing my old friend," He said looking out the dome again, "We were chosen by Fate to save the world from a bunch of video game baddies who have somehow found their way to this world. 'Zat sum it up guys? I know it sounds unbelievable, but then again, so is this airship." The others nodded and Cid looked at Jeremey cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"Ya got a point I guess." Cid replied scratching his head again, "Whatever, anyway, I might have to land this thing pretty soon, you know, to inspect how things are working and all." Jeremey nodded and turned to walk out.  
  
"Whatever you gots to do man." He said as the door opened and he walked out, "And Chas, you got something to do yourself. As for the rest of you, I sincerely thank you for the tour and I hope you enjoy yourself on this fine adventure we're having." They dispersed quickly and Jeremey closed his eyes and sighed. "One hell of a way to spend a Saturday.." He started off to find Kaylie. 


	6. Round Two

ROUND TWO  
  
"Attention passengers." Cid's voice suddenly blared over the PA System on the airship, "We will be landing shortly. I hope you have enjoyed the ride so far and I hope you will enjoy the ride after we lift off again."   
  
"What's he mean by passengers?" Erik asked Justin jokingly, "There anyone else on here? And how many times is he going to land this thing?" Justin laughed and went back to playing his game of pinball. This would be the fourth time Cid had landed the ship.  
  
Jeremey looked up at the speaker in the room and smiled slightly. He then looked at Kaylie who lay on his shoulder her loving eyes looking at him. His hand had gone numb minutes ago from her laying on his arm, but he didn't care. She smiled and leaned up to kiss him again, their tongues entwining over and over again passionately.  
  
"I love you." She said after breaking their kiss, "And I don't ever want to lose you." She laid back down on Jeremey's shoulder and put her arms around him. He looked at the top of her head for a few moments before replying and closing his eyes.  
  
"I love you too." He held her close to him, making him feel secure, like he could take on the world. "And you won't lose me. So don't worry about that..." He closed his eyes again and held her as if they were the only people in the world. She sighed and buried her head in his shoulder sleepily.  
  
"It's only 4:39 baby," Jeremey said looking at the clock in the room, "How can you be sleepy?" She shrugged her shoulders and sighed.  
  
"Today's been a very tiring day." She replied without looking at him. Jeremey nodded and noticed that he was very tired himself. His head nodded sleepily for a moment before he forced his eyes to open.  
  
"Hey," He nudged her head with his shoulder lightly, "What's wrong? It seems like something's been bothering you these past couple of days.." Kaylie was silent for a moment before sighing and looking up at him, her eyes full of worry.  
  
"Do you really love me?" She asked him, her voice full of hope. Jeremey rocked his head back.  
  
"Of course I do." He said cocking his head to the side, "Is that what's been bothering you?" She nodded before burying her head in his shoulder again.  
  
"It just seems like you're ashamed of me, that's all." She said still looking away, "I don't know what to believe anymore. I love you Jeremey, I really do. But you just, you don't seem like you love me..." Jeremey gnawed on his bottom lip before replying.  
  
"I do love you." He said quietly, "I'm not ashamed of you, I have no reason to be.. You're the best thing that ever happened to me.. Hell, you're the best thing that probably ever will happen to me." He closed his eyes and sighed. Tears were slowly forming in Kaylie's eyes. Not tears of sadness, tears of joy.   
  
"Thank you.." She said in quietly, happily. Jeremey nodded and held her tightly, closing his eyes sleepily. Sleep took him slowly and he was half-conscious when he heard three quick taps at the door. He forced his eyes open and nudged Kaylie in the head to signal for her to get up. She sat up on the bed and Jeremey got up and shuffled sleepily over to the door. Yawning, he opened the door to see Erik standing in the hallway. He looked in the room to see Kaylie sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling contently. He looked back to Jeremey.  
  
"So what was going on in here eh?" He asked jokingly. He smiled goofily and Jeremey simply cocked his eye smiled.   
  
"Nothing." He looked out in the hall, nobody was in sight. "What do you want?" Erik backed up a step and looked around the hallway himself, even though he knew nobody was out there.  
  
"Uh, when Cid lands this time, everybody's planning on going outside to chill." He replied cocking his head to the side, "You guys wanna come?" Jeremey frowned, thinking. He looked to Kaylie who shrugged then shook her head. Jeremey then turned back to Erik and nodded.  
  
"Yeah, we'll come." He said, "But, uh, when's he landing?" Suddenly the PA System blared with Cid's voice and Justin and Wesley's in the background.   
  
"Alright boys and girls," He said, "We will be landing in three... Two... One." There was a sudden jolt as the ship landed on the ground. Jeremey looked around and sighed exasperatedly and looked at Erik.  
  
"You go on," Erik nodded and turned, "We'll be right there." Jeremey closed the door and turned to Kaylie, who looked back at him lovingly. He walked over and sat beside her on the bed. She leaned her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Shouldn't we be going?" She asked him looking up at him. He closed his eyes and smiled tiredly.   
  
"I didn't say WHEN we'd be out there." He turned to her smiling lovingly and they kissed passionately once more.  
  
"Well, it seems as though they are landing once again." Sephiroth turned to look at the people watching the scene in the light. Garland's eyes glowed brighter every second and Kuja seemed to be shaking with anticipation. Ultimecia was looking away from the light, not caring what happened. He was in a very good mood, soon the boy with the Hyperion would turn on the others and they would be out of the way, leaving only room to carry out his plan.  
  
"We need to decide who fights them next Sephiroth..." Kuja said impatiently. Sephiroth smiled and nodded to Garland.   
  
"Garland," Sephiroth said, "You can have another try at them." Kuja looked from Sephiroth to Garland then back. He frowned like an angry child and clenched his fists. Sephiroth was punishing him for spite. He couldn't take it, he needed action, he needed to fight.  
  
"That's not fair!" He shouted, "I wanted to go and you knew it!" Sephiroth snickered and looked from Kuja to Garland. Even Kuja shouting at him could not put a damper on his mood, nothing could. They were going to win and he nothing could stop them.  
  
"Fine, play rock, paper, scissors for it." Kuja turned to Garland smiling. This was his game, Garland didn't stand a chance. They went through the motions staring into each other's eyes.   
  
"Rock." Garland said emotionlessly.  
  
"Scissors!" Kuja cried triumphantly before realization hit him, "Damn!" Garland turned to walk out chuckling.  
  
"I will kill them this time Sephiroth!" He called over his shoulder, "Do not worry." He disappeared into darkness for the second time that day. Sephiroth smiled broadly and looked to Kuja, who scowled at his bad luck.   
  
"Don't feel so bad Kuja," Sephiroth said, "There's always the small chance that Garland will lose. If that happens, you will have a chance eventually." Kuja frowned and slumped his shoulders.  
  
"Man, what's taking them so long?" Justin said looking around. The group was outside the airship relaxing while Cid checked out the ship. Erik was deep in conversation with Wesley. Petey was off by himself, presumably being ill-tempered to the rest of the group. Chas and Millie were, surprisingly holding hands and walking around the airship. Finally, Jeremey and Kaylie walked out of the door on the airship holding hands,  
  
"Oh great.." Justin muttered to himself. It made him sick to his stomach. Kaylie was supposed to be his. Jeremey was one of his best friends and all, but Kaylie was his soul mate, not Jeremey's. He didn't deserve her, he wasn't good enough. Justin had asked Kaylie and she had turned him down only to ask Jeremey out three days later. But he would never think about harming Jeremey over a girl, friendship was more important than that.  
  
"Hey guys!" Jeremey called over to Millie and Chas as they walked around the ship. They waved at Jeremey but didn't stop. Jeremey noticed they looked a lot happier now. Jeremey nodded and proceeded out of the door into the little clearing Cid had landed them in. It was a fairly large field, but smaller than the one Chas and Jeremey had sparred in the night before. It was maybe 200 yards from tree line to tree line. But Cid, obviously playing around, had landed the ship twenty feet away from a tree line.  
  
"Where's Cid at?" Jeremey asked Justin, who pointed to the other side of the airship before turning to walk away to talk Erik and Wesley. Jeremey stood for a moment looking around the clearing before nodding to the side of the ship. "Shall we?" He said to Kaylie, who closed her eyes and nodded.  
  
Approaching Cid Jeremey slowed his walk until his footsteps were barely audible. Sneaking up behind Cid slowly he looked at Kaylie and put his finger over his mouth in the 'no talking' symbol. Kaylie smiled and covered her mouth. He was almost on Cid when he turned around and their gaze met; Jeremey's with fierce resolve and Cid's of searching. The world seemed to stop for a moment then they both gasped. They had scared each other. Kaylie laughed uncontrollably.  
  
"Yeah.." Jeremey said embarrassed, "So, what exactly are you looking for?" Cid looked from him to the airship then back again. Jeremey looked around the field again. Something didn't feel right, it felt like something bad was about to happen.  
  
"I'm looking for cracks or deficiencies in the hull." He leaned in close to look at the hull, "There appears to be none." Jeremey looked at Kaylie and shrugged then proceeded to walk around to the other side of the ship where the rest of the group was. Approaching Erik, Justin, and Wesley he still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Wesley looked up at him then behind him and his eyes widened.  
  
"Oh, damn..." Wesley muttered before Jeremey turned to look behind him. What he saw made him freeze in his tracks. Garland was approaching them with the sword of Ragnarok again in the same manner as on the oil rig, but this time he was walker faster with no intention of slowing down. Jeremey felt fear rising in him but couldn't help but smile at a challenge.  
  
"Damn.." He said summoning his gunblade, "Why's all this gotta happen so fast? Hey guys, I think we should all be in on this one..." He heard the others getting up and summoning their weapons. Fifty feet away Petey turned to watch the oncoming battle and considered summoning his weapon, but thought better of it, they would feel his wrath soon enough.  
  
"Uh, Jeremey," Justin said, his voice shaking, "You think this is a good idea? I mean, maybe we should run?" Jeremey looked back at him slowly before realizing that Garland was less than thirty feet away. Jeremey gripped his gunblade tight and readied his mind and body for the fight ahead.  
  
"Here we go.." He said to himself before charging Garland. Jeremey spun twice increasing the momentum of the blade before attacking Garland. The blades of the two weapons collided and the force of his own attack knocked Jeremey back. Garland saw this as his chance to strike and attacked with an upper slash to which Jeremey blocked but he was knocked thirty to forty feet in the air and ten feet away from Garland. Garland's eyes flashed and he charged to where Jeremey would most likely land.  
  
"Ah, shat..." Jeremey said falling upside down as he saw Garland charging at him. Chas and Erik were in his way to Jeremey. They engaged him in battle, Chas swinging down and Erik doing the same. Garland didn't even slow down, he blocked the attacks easily and knocked the two away in the manner he had earlier that day. Jeremey's eyes widened and he brought the gunblade up to block as Garland horizontally slashed. The blades collided again and Jeremey was knocked screaming into the forest fifteen feet away. Garland stopped and turned slowly to the remainder of the group.  
  
"Your leader is vanquished," He said with a hint of pride in his voice, "You all soon will follow." The group stood frozen in fear for a moment.  
  
"Jeremey..." Kaylie said quietly, "No.. It can't be.." Her knees buckled and she collapsed onto her knees. Weeping quietly she could not believe that Jeremey had died. "No. He's not dead. He's not!" She leapt to her feet quickly and fired the pin wheel at Garland, who had not been ready for the attack and ducked barely in time, the blade slicing off his right bull horn on the helmet. He stood slowly and watched the blade come back to Kaylie, who caught it and scowled at him triumphantly.   
  
"I am going to enjoy this..." Garland looked at the bull horn on the ground and then back to the group. Chas and Erik walked in front of the group trying the serve as guardians, a useless gesture; they would not save the rest. Slowly, menacingly, Garland approached the group with his weapon in one hand. The children readied themselves and Garland laughed, they would all perish.  
  
"Come on!" Chas shouted as he and the rest of the group charged at Garland. Chas and Erik were the first to try their luck against Garland. Chas swung the Buster Sword in a upward slash while Erik swung the Shimmering Blade down. Garland dodged Chas' attack barely and blocked Erik's easily. He kicked Chas in the stomach, sending him flying away ten feet. Suddenly Justin pushed through the two and swung his weapon for Garland's right hip. Garland pushed Erik away quickly and blocked the attack. Justin pushed with all his might but gained no advantage.  
  
"Dammit!" Justin screamed angrily as Garland pushed the weapon away slowly. Garland chuckled and grabbed Justin by the shirt collar before throwing him into the air in the same manner as Jeremey. Garland planned to do the same thing he did with Jeremey, he began running and was almost to Justin when the Buster Sword was stuck into the ground in front of him. Garland couldn't stop and tripped over the weapon, landing face first and sliding three feet. Justin laughed before hitting the ground, being knocked unconscious.   
  
"Ha!" Chas said pointing at Garland and holding his stomach, "Like that do ya?!" Garland stood slowly and turned to look at Chas, his burning yellow eyes flashing angrily. Chas realized his mistake and backed up warily, his weapon in a defensive position. Garland attacked mercilessly and Chas could barely block. Garland swung horizontally and Chas blocked but was knocked back about a foot, to which attacked again swinging downward. Chas blocked but was knocked to his knees, Garland's eyes flashed triumphantly before kicked Chas in the mouth, making him flip and land on his stomach unconscious. The Buster Sword dispersed a moment later. Garland's head suddenly pitched forward and he turned around to see Wesley standing behind him with his fists balled ready to fight.  
  
"C'mon bitch." He said tauntingly, "You've been fighting guys with swords. Let's see how you do against a real fighter." Garland cocked his head to the side and swung his weapon in a horizontal slash to which Wesley responded by ducking and letting loose a flurry of punches on Garland's stomach. The dark knight stumbled back holding his stomach, how could this boy hurt him through his armor? He moved in again and swung the blade down with one hand. Wesley dodged and hit Garland with a haymaker, sending him stumbling sideways holding his jaw. He looked at Wesley again, his eyes flashing angrily.  
  
"One more time boy." He lunged, to which Wesley retaliated by dodging to the side and jumping in for another haymaker. Garland ducked and brought his head back up making sure his remaining bullhorn caught Wesley in the jaw. Wesley stumbled back holding his jaw and Garland approached him slowly. He hit Wesley with an uppercut that sent him flying five feet unconscious. Garland stood looking at Wesley's limp body before something that resembled a tire iron flew by his head. The item flew around in an arc, coming back to it's master, Millie, who looked extremely pissed off.  
  
"You.." She muttered in rage, "You son of a bitch!" She charged at Garland, spun around twice, ducked as Garland swung his weapon and came back up swinging her weapon at Garland's face scratching the helmet area around his eyes. Garland stepped back surprised, grabbed her by her ponytail and threw her to the tree line, her head hitting a tree limb, knocking her unconscious. He turned and saw the boy with the Hyperion staring at him curiously. Garland smiled and the boy nodded behind him. Garland ducked and the pinwheel blade shot past his head again.  
  
"This is pretty fun.." He said looking at the unconscious group before turning to face Kaylie. Her face was contorted in anger and sadness. He could see she had been crying, and he felt a little happier. She caught the blade on her forearm and clenched her fists and ran to him picking up a thick tree limb as she ran. Holding the limb in her left hand she fired off the blade with one free finger. As the blade shot toward Garland she ran faster. Garland ducked as the blade shot at his head and Kaylie swung the tree limb smacking Garland in the face, knocking his head back as the blade came back.  
  
Garland snarled and swung around to smack the blade to the ground with the sword. He then spun around and hit Kaylie with the back of his hand, knocking her ten feet unconscious. Garland felt pride rising inside him, he had defeated them. He had defeated them all. He turned to finish the job when he saw Erik charging him ready to attack. Garland's shoulders slumped and he let his sword go limp in his hands for a moment.  
  
"I forgot about that one..." He said readying the sword and walking slowly to Erik, who still charged fiercely. Erik brought the heavy sword down and Garland blocked with a slight difficulty. Erik smiled and slid the blade of his weapon down the length of Garland's causing sparks to shoot in all directions, one stray spark flying into Garland's eyes. Garland shook his head and leapt back, his focus diverted for a moment. Erik took this opportunity and swung his weapon at Garland's head. Garland, just recovering leapt to the right and Erik's weapon chopped through one of the thick spikes on Garland's shoulder plate.  
  
"Damn.." Erik said as Garland stood and looked at the severed spike then back to Erik. Garland's yellow eyes flashed angrily and spun twice and swung his weapon horizontally. Erik blocked but was knocked twenty feet. He got up to see Garland charging him and stepped back slowly. Garland swung the blade down and Erik blocked, placing one hand on the blunt side of the blade near the point to reinforce the block. Garland pressed down on the blade and Erik's knees buckled under the pressure, but still he held on.  
  
"I'm the last one..." He said to himself, "I can't give up.." Garland snickered, the boy had courage, but he would die like the rest. Garland suddenly brought his foot up, kicking Erik in the stomach, sending him flying back 10 more feet. There was nothing more he could do, he was in too much pain. He clutched his stomach as Garland walked up to him menacingly. Garland put his foot on Erik's chest triumphantly.  
  
"Now, you die." Garland raised his weapon, the point aimed at Erik's chest. He was about to bring it down when he heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Hey!" He turned to see Jeremey standing at the tree line he had knocked him into looking tired and slightly angry, but determined. He had small cuts on his face and arms, presumably from flying through thick trees "I'm not done with you yet. Time for round two lumpy." Garland looked at Jeremey slowly and lowered the sword. He turned his body to Jeremey and suddenly charged with amazing speed. Jeremey only had time to duck as Garland swung the Ragnarok sword at him. Instead of rolling away, Jeremey leapt back and brought the gunblade up in an uppercut slash and pulled the trigger as the blade cut across Garland's face. The cut emitted a white light before exploding like a cherry bomb.  
  
"Yes!" Jeremey cried and looked around to all his friends unconscious, save for Erik, who was still conscious, but in a lot of pain. He suddenly heard a dual voice laughing. His eyes widened and he looked back at Garland as the smoke around his face cleared. The plate on his helm covering his mouth was split in two, but was still covered his mouth. Garland reached up, grabbed the plate with one hand, and ripped it off. Inside the helm there was nothing but blackness, save for the burning yellow orbs that constituted for Garland's eyes.  
  
"No more playing around boy.." Garland said as grabbed Jeremey by the top of his head and threw him back toward the ship. Jeremey hit the ground, bounced, skidded, then rolled for about five feet. He stood and ducked as Garland swung his weapon viciously. Falling back he brought the gunblade up to block as Garland brought his sword down, Jeremey cursed his rotten luck. He kicked Garland in the stomach quickly and retreated a couple feet before launching an attack of his own.   
  
He swung the gunblade horizontally and allowed the blade to bounce back when Garland blocked it, then lunged. Garland moved out of the way and brought his sword down to which Jeremey responded by leaping back and bringing his blade down. Garland block and pressed on Jeremey, who pressed back. They stayed this way for almost a minute, neither gaining the advantage.  
  
"You're good boy.." Garland said pressing down on Jeremey, "You have the mark of a hero. But it's nothing new, I have killed many like you before, and I will kill you." Jeremey snarled and pressed back down on Garland.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm different." Jeremey was losing his footing slowly but surely. He was getting tired and wouldn't be able to hold this position much longer. If he even slipped once it would all be over, Garland would kill him. He was going to die, he knew it, there was nothing he could do. Suddenly a huge sword blade came down on Garland's left shoulder the armor being crushed by the force the blade was brought down with. Jeremey leapt back with a surprised look on his face.  
  
Garland's eyes went wide as the sword continued going through his body. His body started folding around the blade before it was finally pulled out, a victorious Erik holding the Shimmering Blade. Garland fell to his knees and white light started shooting out from various cracks in his armor. His entire body started convulsing and his armor began to crumple like paper. A huge white beam of light finally shot out of his 'face' and he screamed in agony before his armor collapsed, sending a blue shockwave out. Jeremey and Erik were knocked back by the force.   
  
"Damn.." Jeremey said as he got up and looked at the armor laying on the ground, the ragged purple cape blowing in the wind. "That was messed up.." The armor started dispersing slowly, large firefly looking lights floating up as it did. He looked around at all his friends who had been knocked unconscious.  
  
"What are we gonna do?" Erik asked him holding his stomach in pain. Jeremey shrugged and sat down.  
  
"We should wake them up and see if they're alright, but..." He said as he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and dismissed his gunblade, "I don't think I'll be able to man... I'm too... Tired..." He finally passed out and Erik was the only one left, so he turned and started to the airship to find Cid. 


	7. Zoo York

ZOO YORK

"Garland.." Sephiroth muttered in disbelief, "No. How can this be? He was one of the best.. How was he defeated by children..?" Kuja looked from the light to Sephiroth, who's face had lost all color. Ultimecia put her right hand on her hip and frowned slightly.

"I kinda liked him.." She said in her thick Russian accent. Sephiroth's knees buckled and the mighty warrior collapsed with a face full of surprise and shock. He closed his eyes and regained his composure, standing and looking back into the light seeing the armor finally dispersing and the Cid man and the black haired boy helping the others onto the airship.

"Dammit.." Sephiroth said clenching his fist, "That sets us back.." Kuja was saddened by the death of his comrade, but still couldn't help but smile because of the fact that if Sephiroth had merely sent him with Garland, the children would be dead.

"I told you you shoul---" Kuja started to say before an arrogant laugh filled the cave. Kuja knew exactly who it was and frowned angrily before turning to see the blue-haired man step out of the shadows. He was roughly Sephiroth's height with long blue hair down to his waist like Sephiroth as well, but he had two long spike-like hair formations similar to Ultimecia's, but coming downward instead out outward. He had gray eyes and seemed to have blood veins bulging from his forehead, but they were only the skin texture of his forehead. He wore similar clothes to Kuja, except his were dark blue and purple instead of purple and white, and his chest was exposed, straps forming and 'x' on his chest holding the clothing together.

"I see you're still having trouble with those pesky children." The man said with a voice that flowed like water while waving his hand, which had fingernails that looked more like claws on elongated fingers. Sephiroth finally turned to face the man whom he despised almost as much as Kuja.

"Seymour.." He practically spat the word, "About time you showed up.." Seymour simply chuckled that arrogant laugh and glanced at Ultimecia, who squirmed nervously when he smiled at her. He then turned back to Sephiroth and pointed with his thumb behind him.

"And I brought one more.." He frowned for a moment before the grin returned, "But where he is at the moment and what he's doing is beyond me.."

Meanwhile...

"Ugh!" The old man cried out in pain. He was in his mid-fifties and bald on top of his head, with gray-white hair on the sides and a scraggly beard. His clothes were fairly dirty and he smelled like a wet dog. He looked down to see a sword in his stomach before looking up at the sadistically smiling figure who had put it there.

The man looked to be about five-foot ten and fairly muscular with blonde hair. What really caught the old man's eye was the strange clothes, multi-colored feathers in the man's hair that was arranged as a sort of plume in the back, and the man's painted face which resembled a clown. It was completely white with red make up coming down in three lines under his each eye and red right angle lines one each side of his forehead. The man's clothes were a mixture of a clown's and royalty, cape and all. The cape itself was green and had a red and yellow striped collar that tied together in the front, while under the cape was black and white striped pants, a red vest lined with golden ends, and a purple shirt underneath.

"W-why?" The old man struggled to say, "Why are you doing this? W-what have I d-done to you?" He coughed blood onto his own chest and the sword and could barely here the words that came from the clown's mouth.

"Why?" He sneered with a voice that seemed barely sane, "Because I can, you old fool. Besides, I haven't killed in a while and you were just sitting there, begging me to kill you. Aw, come come now, don't be so down. You should be honored, you were killed by the sword of..." The clown stopped to place his foot on the dying man's shoulder and violently jerk the sword from his stomach before finishing, "Kefka! Goodbye baldy." The clown turned and walked further into the dark alley laughing hysterically before the laughing faded away slowly as did the outline of the clown's body in the dark. The old man watched him fade away into darkness before breathing his last breath.

"Well, how do my old friends!" Kefka hollered to the rest of the people gathered at the light in the cave. They all turned to look at him with slightly annoyed looks. "What'd I do?" He asked spreading his hands.

"You're late." Sephiroth, the self-proclaimed leader said, "We could have used your help earlier and now Gar---" Kefka zoned out, he didn't come to this world to be lectured by that long haired hippy wanna-be freak. He came to kill, to destroy, to conquer; none of which they seemed to be doing at this point in time. Suddenly Seymour spoke to Sephiroth and what he said caught Kefka's attention.

"I propose that we launch an attack on one of the human's major cities." That was the kind of stuff Kefka like to hear. The more he was around Seymour, the more the blue-haired Guado seemed to be just like him.

"I second that!" Kefka blurted out startling the group, who looked at him. Kuja wrinkled his nose at him and looked from Seymour to Kefka.

"I would suspect that from you." Kuja said looking Kefka up and down disdainfully. Kefka wondered what that pompous little sissy boy's problem was. He had never liked Kuja and he was sure Kuja had never liked him.

"You got a problem sissy boy?" Kefka smiled like a bully that had just insulted a nerd in the hallway. Kuja's face read surprise for a moment before turning to anger.

"What did you say?!" He took a step toward Kefka, who simply smiled more broadly. Sephiroth out his hand on Kuja's chest to prevent him from taking another step.

"Cut it out you two.." He said smiling slightly, "Seymour, what do you suggest we do?" Kefka looked to Seymour, he wanted to know what the idea was as well. Kuja looked at Kefka, who had his back turned and stuck his tongue out at him.

"I say we unleash the monsters.." A smile slowly spread across Seymour's face, "It'd be a pity to bring them all this way and not let them have any fun." Kefka smiled broadly.

"Finally.." He said to himself, "Someone with real genius, with the right stuff for this kinda thing.." Sephiroth was stroking his chin in thought.

"What of the others?" He asked Seymour, "Edea, Sin, Golbez, Chaos? Seymour shook his head and looked into the light, which now showed no image, it was simply a green light.

"No." He replied, "They didn't make it in time, the ones who didn't send their weapons got them." Sephiroth's demeanor became stern and his closed fists began to shake.

"The monsters.." He said, "Get them ready to attack as soon as possible." Seymour nodded and started to walk off but stopped and turned back to Sephiroth. He leaned in close and whispered something in Sephiroth's ear.

"Oh yes, I also brought IT with me." Sephiroth became visibly happier. He looked at Seymour with a face full of anticipation.

"Where is it?" He whispered his reply. Seymour cringed slightly and backed away.

"I don't know, it was lost on the way here." Sephiroth felt his shoulders slump, "It could be anywhere.. But we can find it, trust me."

"I will do that, thank you very much." Sephiroth replied annoyed, "I want all of you to help Seymour with the monsters for now." The others nodded and began to walk away into the darkness, leaving only Seymour with Sephiroth. Sephiroth looked up and gritted his teeth, he found Seymour only slightly more tolerable than Kuja, but even that tolerance was wearing thin. Seymour was disappointing him a lot today.

"Yes?" He spat out angrily. Seymour looked as if he wanted to ask Sephiroth something, but he seemed too afraid to ask, like a child who wanted to ask an adult for money.

"I.." He stuttered, "I wanted t-to know if I could have control of the monsters.. Because I'm no good with a weapon and I can't use magic here and the monsters would be the only thing I would be able to protect myself with.." Sephiroth considered that for a moment. Seymour was horrible with any weapon, even Edea had beaten him in a sword duel. Sephiroth smiled at the thought and nodded.

"Fine, you can have the monsters." He turned back to the light, which still had no image, "They will obey your every command." He could hear the excitement in Seymour's voice.

"All of them?!" Sephiroth felt like he was dealing with children.

"Yes, all of them." He replied tiredly, still staring into the light, "Now go help the others before I lose my patience." He heard Seymour turning and walking away hurriedly. Sephiroth sighed and put his hand on his chin in thought. Garland was dead, the children had defeated him, and the boy; Jeremey was his name Sephiroth thought to himself, had beaten him.

"We have to win this..." Sephiroth said to himself turning his head to look into the darkness behind him then staring back into the light.

-----------------

The bright light in his face made it hard for him to focus at first when he opened his eyes slowly.

"The hell?" Jeremey said before sitting up and looking around his room. He remembered the fight with Garland, everybody being unconscious, Erik killing Garland, and himself passing out from exhaustion. Something bumped his hip and he realized there was someone on the bed beside him. He looked down to see Kaylie sleeping, a large bruise on her left cheek. He felt anger rising in him and he got off the bed before realizing he didn't have a shirt on. He looked around the room and finally spotted his shirt on a chair in the far corner. He strode over to it, picked it off the chair and was putting it on when he heard someone whistle from the door.

"She's been staying with you since that day you know." Jeremey pulled his shirt on quickly to reveal Chas leaning against the doorway, working his jaw from side to side. Jeremey looked from Kaylie to Chas before realizing what Chas said.

"What do you mean 'that day'?" He asked, "Didn't we fight him today?" Chas raised an eyebrow and looked in the hallway.

"Dude, it's Wednesday." He replied, still working his jaw. Jeremey's eyes widened and he lost all the color in his face, his expression one of disbelief. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and cut it on to look at the date. True to Chas's story, the date read Wednesday October 13, 2004. Jeremey looked up at Chas, who nodded.

"I've been out for.." Jeremey counted on his fingers, "Four days?!" Chas smiled slightly and looked down the hall again.

"Actually, you woke up a lot, but you would babble about some crazy stuff and pass out again." He worked his jaw to the right, then to the left, "We were all kinda worried about you, but Kaylie was worried sick. She refused to leave this room unless she absolutely needed to." Jeremey narrowed his eyes and walked over to the bed to sit down beside Kaylie and he stroked her hair. She breathed deeply and rolled over, her back facing Jeremey. He didn't remember waking up at all, so he looked back up at Chas.

"What kinda stuff was I babbling about?" Chas shrugged and walked to sit down on the chair Jeremey had gotten his shirt from.

"I dunno, we all took turns watching you." He shrugged again, "But when I was watching you, you woke up and started saying stuff about a meteor. Then you said something about Sephiroth and something's coming. I dunno." He leaned back in the chair and worked his jaw some more. Jeremey thought about that for a moment before curiosity struck him.

"What happened to your jaw?" He asked Chas before looking at Kaylie, "And her face?" Chas looked at her and looked back at Jeremey.

"I got kicked like a fuggin football in the mouth, Cid said he's surprised it's not shattered.." He worked his jaw some more, "I was out when she got hurt, but Erik said Garland backhanded her. Ya know, everybody got knocked out but you. You collapsed from exhaustion, lucky dog, this crap hurts." Jeremey clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, how dare that blue freak do that to Kaylie.

"That bastard.." He said not to anyone particular, but Kaylie rolled over and stretched sleepily.

"Who's this now?" She opened her eyes, saw Jeremey sitting on the edge of the bed and leapt onto him smothering him with hugs and kisses. Jeremey hugged her back looking at Chas. "I missed you so much Jeremey.." She sobbed happily. He closed his eyes and smiled.

"Same here." He said getting off the bed and walking to the door while grabbing his hoodie off the desk, "Listen, I'll be right back, I gotta go talk to Cid. You coming to?" He aimed the question at Chas while putting the hoodie on and was answered by a nod. He stood and they started off to the cockpit.

"So I noticed you and Millie seem to be closer now?" He remembered he wanted to ask Chas about that Saturday, but he never got the chance. Chas nodded.

"Yeah, I talked to her and we got everything settled." Jeremey nodded and gave Chas a thumb up. He looked to his right to the recreation room to see Petey beating on the punching bag again, Wesley, who was working his jaw as well, playing a pinball machine, and Erik and Justin playing pool. Jeremey looked back at Chas.

"Speaking of which, where is Millie?"

"She's in the room watching TV." Jeremey nodded and slid down the rail of the steps and hurriedly walked to the cockpit. The door opened automatically and he patted Cid on the shoulder.

"Hey old man, how ya doing?" Cid looked up and started when he saw Jeremey.

"Jeremey!" He said happily, "How the hell are ya?" Jeremey smiled and looked out the big dome; they were moving over an ocean.

"Great." He replied, "So how's she running and where are we at exactly?" Cid pointed to a little screen beside the 'steering wheel' on the 'dashboard'. It was blue and green with a dark blue grid pattern on it. Jeremey looked closer and realized he was looking at a map of the world, the green parts continents and the blue being oceans. There was a red dot in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that was slowly moving toward the New York area.

"She's running great and we are on our way to New York city to see if we can help with anything." Jeremey had a dumbfounded look on his face.

"What?" He looked out the dome to see the huge city rising on the horizon. Cid looked at Chas, who shrugged.

"You didn't tell him?" He said reaching into a box on the side of the chair he was sitting on, pulling out a TV remote, pointing it at the wall to the right, hitting a button, and turning on a hidden TV.

"If you're just joining us, the city is under attack by strange monsters that some people say are from the popular video game series, Final Fantasy." The news anchorwoman's blonde hair was frizzled and her face was slightly dirty. Explosions could be heard in the background and strange sounds could be heard. A large, orange-red, pointed ball zoomed by the camera screen and made a noise that reminded Jeremey of the bludgers from the Harry Potter movies. The anchor woman was looking more and more scared by the second.

"We here at NBC news were here first with live coverage of he attacks..." The orange-red ball floated back into view slowly staring at the camera. It was about the size of a large beach ball with stone-looking spikes coming from the top of it. It had black eyes with white irises and pupils, small flames spouted out of various parts on it's body, small arms that were not proportional to its size, and a mouth that covered a good part of it's 'face'. It didn't have regular teeth, instead it's 'skin' came down into pointed teeth-like protrusions. It looked from the camera to the anchorwoman and back before laughing like one of the gremlins from the movie of the same name.

"A Bomb.." Jeremey said as he heard the camera man scream and watched the woman pull out a gun and shoot the Bomb three times. Each time she shot it, it grew bigger by closing it's eyes and shaking slightly. After the third shot the Bomb flew in two loops, zoomed toward the camera with white light coming from various parts of it's body.

"No, no!" Jeremey screamed at the TV, "Get outta there!" But even as he uttered the words the Bomb, true to it's name, exploded and the camera feed was destroyed. He looked out the dome to see that they were maybe a half-mile away from the edge of the city and he could already see the explosions. Cid changed the channel to Fox News, which showed a helicopter view of the city.

"As you can see Bill, there appears to be a strange man on top of this building telling the monsters what to do." The camera panned to a blue haired man on top of a building pointing in one direction or the other and various Final Fantasy monsters would go off in the direction he pointed to cause destruction. Jeremey recognized the man the moment he saw him.

"Seymour..." As he said the word Seymour looked up at the helicopter and smiled mischievously before pointing at it and the camera feed went dead. Jeremey frowned angrily looking at Cid.

"How long has this been going on?" Cid looked at his watch before replying.

"About three hours, but we just heard about it an hour ago." Jeremey nodded and turned to walk out.

"I'm going in." Chas put a hand on Jeremey's shoulder to stop him.

"No you're not, you just woke up." Jeremey turned to face Chas with a determined look on his face.

"I am, I'm the only one who didn't get messed up in that fight, you said it yourself." He said louder than he intended, "I'm not going alone though, I'ma take someone with me. Sorry, I have to do this, there's no way around it.." He said sternly, remembering the woman who had died because of him. Chas's only reply was a slow nod. Cid stopped Jeremey before we walked out of the door.

"Wait, take these with you." Cid reached into the box again and pulled out a pair of radio headsets. He tossed them to Jeremey before pulling one out for himself and putting it on. "Keep in touch kid. I really don't approve of you going out there, but I know if anyone can do anything about this problem, it's you kids.. Good luck." Jeremey nodded and quickly ran to the recreation room thinking about how much Cid had sounded like a parent. He wondered if Cid had any kids; he'd have to ask the pilot when he got back.

"If I get back.." He said to himself while entering the recreation room where Wesley was now watching Petey and Erik play pool while Justin played the pinball machine. Jeremey ran to Wesley, patted him on the shoulder and nodded to the door.

"We gotta go, now." Wesley looked up at him surprised and stood slowly.

"It's you!" He said astonished, "You're awake!" Jeremey raised an eyebrow and nodded to the door again.

"Yeah, we'll catch up later, now let's go." He handed Wesley a headset before putting the other on and flipping the 'on' button, "Cid?" The line was quite for a moment before Cid's voice suddenly came through.

"Yeah?" Chas's voice could be head in the background. Jeremey and Wesley were already walking to the door on the side of the airship.

"Listen, don't land, just slow down to about twenty and I want everybody to stay on this ship." He told Cid, "Don't leave me either, just circle the city. You got me?" There was a short pause and he could hear Chas saying something inaudible.

"Yeah, I got ya." Jeremey nodded and turned the corner leading to the exit.

"Lemme talk to Chas." He could hear Cid taking the headset off and giving it to Chas.

"Yeah?" He sounded anxious.

"After I leave the ship tell Kaylie I'm sorry and I'll be back soon ." Chas and Cid were quite for a moment and Jeremey was reminded of talking on a phone, the headsets were a lot like a phone. One didn't have to push a button like a regular radio communicator.

"Alright." Chas said quietly, "Hey, promise me you'll come back man." Jeremey closed his eyes and pushed the button to open the door. Wesley's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head and he lost all color in his face.

"I promise.." Jeremey opened his eyes and looked at Wesley, "Put the headset on." Wesley put it on and looked out the door; they were at least 500 feet off the ground, give or take. Jeremey scanned the area and saw the building he saw Seymour on about a mile away. He cursed his rotten luck.

"You're trying to give me a heart attack aren't you?" Jeremey smiled, "Um, how are we gonna get to street level?" Jeremey pointed to a fifty-seven building roof before the top ten floors exploded. Jeremey rocked his head back and looked out the door.

"Well, that didn't go too well now did it..?" He smiled, "Oh well, I got a better way down.. Stay with me!" He grabbed Wesley's arm with his left arm and dove out the door summoning his gunblade in his right. Wesley found himself screaming like a girl.

-----------------

Another monster faded away as a bullet struck it in the head. But it seemed as though for every monster killed, three more took it's place. NYPD Patrol Officers Larry Biggs and Simon Wedge had been standing back to back in the middle of the street for almost five minutes shooting monsters that got too close to them. Wedge shot another one down, it looked like a cat with giant, flailing whiskers.

"Hey!" Biggs called to his partner, "You think if we live through this we'll get promoted?" Biggs was a tall man in his early thirties, he was about five-foot ten and very muscular. He had green eyes, medium length dirty blonde hair, and had a neatly trimmed beard. His partner looked over his shoulder at him like he was stupid.

"If we live through this, I'm moving to Wisconsin!" Wedge replied slightly annoyed. Wedge was the younger of the two, only twenty-nine. He was about three inches taller than Biggs and wasn't as muscular. He had short brown hair, blue eyes and was clean shaven. Where Biggs liked to joke around and pull pranks, Wedge was a no-nonsense cop that knew his job. People joked that they were almost exact opposites. They suddenly heard something that sounded like an extremely large eagle screaming on the same street they were on.

"What the hell was that?" Biggs said looking up to the sky to see a large black bird falling toward them. The bird was huge, it looked as if it had a wing-span of at least fifty feet. It had a long neck with a mane like a horse and red eyes with black irises. The beak seemed normal enough, except the bird had teeth inside it's beak. It's legs looked like an eagle's only bigger. Biggs was officially creeped out and was about to shoot the bird when he saw a humanoid shape on the bird's back holding on to it's mane with its left hand and hacking away at the bird's wings with a weird looking sword in its right hand. When he could finally make out the shape he saw that it was only a kid. He looked about Bigg's height, had brown hair, and was wearing a gray zip-up hoodie with the word CLEMSON on it.

"Move it Biggs, that things coming right at us!" Wedge slapped his arm and started running down the street, still shooting at monsters. Biggs was too scared to move. The bird finally hit the ground and was flipping over when the kid grabbed another kid and leapt off the bird, landing on a car and hopping off that to the ground. The other kid had hair about Bigg's length, was fairly short, and had on a green shirt that had the word Blind on it. The big bird was flipping end over end coming straight at him. He couldn't move, he was too scared.

"BIGGS!!" Wedge screamed from behind him, snapping him back into reality. He turned to run and tripped over his own feet. He knew it was over, he turned to watch the bird come down on top of him to crush him when it faded away like all the other monsters he had killed, firefly-looking lights floating out of it's fading body. He stood up shaking when the kids, the short one looking scared out of his mind, and Wedge ran up to him.

"You alright sir?" The hoodie kid asked him. Bigg's only response was a nod. Wedge took control of the situation.

"Who are you and what the hell was that bird?!" He pointed at the hoodie kid who raised an eyebrow annoyed.

"My name is Jeremey and this is Wesley." The hoodie kid introduced and short kid nodded a greeting, still pale, "As for the bird, that was a Zuu." The cops were dumbfounded. Jeremey shook his head and looked around the city.

"What the hell is a Zuu?!" Color was coming back into Wesley's face now.

"You ever played Final Fantasy?" Biggs shook his head, as did Wedge.

"I don't play video games kid." Jeremey nodded and brought the strange sword up, it looked like a mixture of a gun and a sword, up and rested the blunt side of the sword on his shoulder.

"Well, it's not important, just, um, stay safe and don't get in our way." He nodded to Wesley before tapping him on the shoulder and starting off down the street, avoiding fighting the monsters. Biggs looked at Wedge and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm too old for this stuff.." He said before putting another clip in his gun and shooting more monsters.

-----------------

"I hate all this running." Jeremey told Wesley a mile later as they rounded a corner and saw people running out of a subway entrance screaming about being blinded, "What the hell?" He ran to a man who was screaming in agony.

"I can't see!" The man screamed, "I can't see!" The man was short and chubby, and kinda reminded Jeremey of Danny Devito. Jeremey dismissed the gunblade, grabbed the man by his shoulders, and shook him.

"What happened?" When the man didn't answer Jeremey shook him harder, "What happened?!" The man stopped screaming for moment.

"I don't know!" He replied frenzied, "All I remember is waiting for the train and I heard something roar like that big dinosaur from Jurassic Park and I saw a bright light and that was the last thing I saw.." He screamed again. Jeremey dropped laid him down and looked at the entrance. It was dark at the bottom of the steps, Jeremey hated the dark. He stood, summoned his gunblade, and looked at Wesley.

"I'm going in." Wesley looked at him as if he was insane, "Don't worry, I'll be alright.. Just stay here and watch these people." He said unconvincingly before turning to walk down the steps. Jeremey soon realized he was shaking, he was scared. He patted himself down to see if he had anything to cover his eyes with and pulled his sunglasses out of his hoodie pocket. He put them on and put his gunblade in a defensive position as he walked down the steps.

"Lucky.." He got to the bottom and looked around, but the sunglasses only made it darker. He shrugged and walked closer to the platform when he heard a loud growl, kind of like the Tyrannosaur off the Jurassic Park movie. Looking around brought up the same results as last time, darkness. Jeremey soon realized his knees were knocking together. He heard the growl again down the tunnel behind him and he spun around only to be greeted by a bright light. Luckily he had the sunglasses on and the effect was only like looking at the sun for a few seconds.

"Shit.." Jeremey shook his head, "Bastard!" He heard a roar very similar to the Tyrannosaur's and charged in that direction screaming angrily.

-----------------

Wesley heard the roaring sound the man was talking about and looked down the steps to the subway.

"I hope Jeremey's alright..." He said to himself. What happened next almost made Wesley soil himself. The ground about thirty feet away cracked and exploded as a five-headed dragon flew out of the hole. It's wingspan must have been at least 120 feet. Each of the five heads was a different color and seemingly a different breed of dragon: one was red, one green, one black, one white, and one blue. The rest of the body was black and the wings were dark purple. It was flying as if it was hurts and when it got about fifty feet off the ground the end of it's tail finally emerged to reveal a screaming Jeremey holding on to it with his left hand.

"Ahh!!" Jeremey screamed as the dragon shook it's tail and he was thrown into Wesley. The red dragon head roared while the green one hissed and the dragon flew away.

"Jeremey, are you alright?" Wesley asked Jeremey, who was laying on his back, "Are you hurt?!" Jeremey groaned and stood slowly.

"Only my pride.." He said watching the dragon fly away, "I'll get you next time.." Suddenly Cid's voice blared over the headsets.

"What the hell was that?!" Jeremey had totally forgotten that he could hear everything that was going on.

"Tiamat.." Jeremey responded only to hear Cid struggling with someone.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Kaylie's voice screamed into Jeremey and Wesley's ears. Jeremey grimaced, looked at Wesley, and nodded behind him.

"Let's get gone." He said and started to the building Seymour was on, "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to get hurt." He knew that was the wrong thing to say, but it was the truth. They heard he huff and growl.

"I'm gonna beat your ass when you get back." Jeremey smiled as he kicked through the glass doors of the building.

"Fair enough." Wesley looked over at Jeremey and shook his head, "What?" Cid had gotten the headset back.

"She went crazy kid." Jeremey laughed and started toward the elevator.

"I can see that happening.." Wesley said to which Jeremey laughed some more. Jeremey heard something running really fast outside and turned in time to see a large yellow-feathered bird that looked like a mix between a chicken and an ostrich run by the door.

"Wark!" Jeremey rocked his head back.

"A Chocobo!" He saw a little white creature riding on the Chocobo's back. It was about the size of a Chihuahua, had big black eyes, tiny purple demon-like wings, a big red nose, and a single antenna with a red poof-ball on the end.

"And a Moogle.." Wesley said smiling. The little Moogle pointed in front of the yellow bird and it sped up.

"Kupo!" The Moogle cried as the Chocobo barreled through a sidewalk full of monsters, some fading away, others getting back up and growling at the strange duo.

"That was new.." Jeremey said and turned his attention back to the elevator, which looked strange to Jeremey, something wasn't right. He looked closer to see that it was moving ever so slightly. Jeremey's eyes widened, he looked around the lobby, and spotted the REAL elevator. He grabbed Wesley by the sleeve of his shirt and ran to the elevator just as two clawed hands emerged from the wall and the fake elevator faded away to reveal a skin-colored wall. Jeremey heard a growl and turned to see a large, reptilian head emerge from the wall above the two clawed hands. It looked at them and hissed.

"Damn that was close!" He said as he pushed the elevator button to go up. The door opened and they piled in. Jeremey pushed the button the button for the sixty-fifth floor, as high as it would go, and the two rode the rest of the trip in silence. When they reached the sixty-fifth floor and stepped out of the elevator they were greeted by a low growl to their right. Jeremey was the first to look.

"Crap.." He said as he saw the monster. It was about the size of a leopard, it even had spots. But it had a lion's head, bright blue eyes, and a white chest and underbelly. Instead of regular whiskers, the monster had a long spotted antenna that ended in blue fur on each side of it's mouth. It opened it's mouth and roared like a lion. Jeremey pushed Wesley forward and the two ran toward the steps and the cat-monster turned the corner and followed them.

"Know what that is? Wesley said sarcastically. Jeremey looked back and ran faster as he realized the monster was catching up with them.

"A Torama." Wesley smiled and shook his head. Jeremey grimaced as he realized he needed to divert the Torama's attention. He grabbed Wesley's shoulder. "Run through that door, don't go up the steps, but close the door you run through. I'll be there in a moment." Wesley looked at him, realized what Jeremey was doing, and reluctantly nodded. As Wesley continued down the hallway Jeremey turned into the nearest doorway and realized he hadn't seen anybody in the building. They were probably all evacuated or something, it didn't really matter at the moment. He turned around when he reached the middle of the room and raised the gunblade in a defensive position. The Torama stopped at the door, growled and it's antennae shot into the air and started shooting yellow electrical energy between the two. Jeremey lowered the gunblade.

"No..." He turned and dove behind a desk in front of a large window, "Not that! Not that fuggin Blaster attack!" A ball of electrical energy was crackling between the antennae while Jeremey was covering his head with his hands. "I'ma die, I'ma die, I'ma die.." The energy suddenly shot forward as an energy beam and struck the desk, obliterating in completely. But, unfortunately for Jeremey, the force of the explosion blew him out of the window behind him. Jeremey screamed at first then frowned as he cursed his luck.

"Just my luck.." He said angrily, "I die cause a stupid cat blew out of a window.." When he landed it wasn't the hard cement he expected to feel below him, but it was something extremely giving, it reminded him of a trampoline when someone lands on it. He looked around and saw stone-looking spikes beside him and around him and he heard a sound like leather being twisted. He realized what he was on suddenly.

"Shit.." He said as right before he was shot into the air like a bullet. He looked down to see a Bomb's black eyes bulging out of it's head before it exploded, sending Jeremey up faster. He saw the Torama leaning out of the window looking down at him and dismissed his gunblade. When he reached the cat he grabbed it's antennae and pulled himself inside the window. Before the creature could react he kicked it out of the window to hear it screaming on the way to the side-walk.

Jeremey sighed, extremely relieved, before turning to walk to the door Wesley had entered. Wesley started when Jeremey opened the door, but sighed.

"Knew you would make it." He said smiling. Jeremey only shook his head and pointed up the steps.

"Let's finish this." He said as they trudged up the steps to the roof. They opened the door to see Seymour standing on the edge of the roof telling the monsters where to go. He turned around when he heard the door opened with a scared look on his face.

"Oh.." He said looking at the two Bombs and one Torama around him, "I didn't expect you to make it all the way here.. But, I assure you, you will go no further." He pointed at them and the monsters ran and flew toward them.

"Wesley!" Jeremey said as he dodged out of the way of a tackle attack from a bomb, "Go get Seymour, I'll get the monsters!" Wesley nodded and started off toward Seymour. Jeremey dodged the other Bomb and smacked it with the flat side of the blade into the Torama. The Bomb grew a little bigger and the Torama fell backwards.

"Hah!" Jeremey yelled as the Bomb and Torama unsuccessfully tried to shake off the effects of the hit and watched the other Bomb zoom in to tackle Jeremey, who dodged and kicked the Bomb into the door. He then picked it up by one of the spikes on it's head, which was almost hot. He watched as the Bomb grew bigger and slammed it into the door again to watch it grow even bigger and finally, like a baseball batter, smacked the Bomb at the other monsters on the roof. The Bomb slammed into the monsters and the trio fell off the roof. A moment later an explosion sounded below, causing the building to shake.

"No!" Seymour screamed in a panicked voice, "You're ruining everything! I won't let you!!" He screamed and pointed at Wesley, who was running toward Seymour rubbing the iron part on his knuckles. Behind Seymour four thorn riddled vines slithered onto the rooftop followed by a strange plant. Wesley stopped and looked at it as a flower blossomed on the top to reveal a single bloodshot eye in the middle. It looked directly at him and starting flailing it's vines at him like octopus tentacles.

"Damn!" Wesley cried jumping and dodging the vines on his way to Seymour. The plant screeched as one of the vines fell to the roof limply, green juice emitting from a severed end. Wesley chanced a quick glance to his right to see Jeremey severing another tentacle. The plant screeched again and turned it's attention to Jeremey as Wesley reached the body and kicked it aside to reveal a terrified Seymour.

"No!!" He screamed as Wesley leapt up and delivered an uppercut to Seymour's jaw. Seymour could feel his jaw being shattered and his body falling over the side of the building. "This.. Is.. Not over.. Yet.." He spread his arms out and closed his eyes before crashing into a car, ruining the frame forever.

"Wow.." Jeremey said stepping up beside Wesley and looking over the edge, "Now I know how Spider-Man feels." Wesley looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"And what was the name of that plant monster, O Final Fantasy Guru?" He said sarcastically. Jeremey looked at the fading plant he had killed and back to Wesley.

"I think it was a Grat.." He slapped Wesley on the shoulder, "Let's get back down to street level. Hey Cid, mission accomplished!" He said walking back to the door.


	8. Fair Fight

FAIR FIGHT

"Whew..." Jeremey said as he stepped onto the airship, "What a trip." Chas, Millie, Kaylie, Justin, and Erik were in the foyer to greet him and Wesley, who was still slightly pale. Jeremey looked around, but failed to find Petey.

"Please don't EVER do that again.." Kaylie said as she hugged Jeremey and laid her head on his shoulder. Jeremey looked around at the group.

"Heh.." He scratched the back of his head, "I had to do what I had to do, babe.." She looked up at him and smiled slightly before nodding. Chas was opening his mouth to say something when sirens began blaring and lights began flashing in the airship. Jeremey frowned and ran to the cockpit.

"What the hell's going on?" Jeremey asked Cid as he strode into the room. Cid looked to Jeremey and turned back around to look out the glass dome.

"Well, it seems something large is coming our way.." Cid began to fly the ship through the concrete canyons of New York, gaining speed, "And in a very hostile way.. Go over there to that screen on the wall and press that blue button.." Jeremey walked over to the place where Cid had pointed.

"Here?"

"Yeah, that's like a rearview mirror.." As Jeremey pressed the button as the last two members of the group strolled into the room. The image that showed up on screen was that of the buildings behind the airship. Jeremey's eyes grew wide as he saw a gargantuan, purple dog-like monster come around a corner and look at the ship. From what he could see on the screen it looked about forty-five feet high at the shoulder. It had a dark-yellow mane like that of a horse's and bull horns protruding from the top of it's head.

"A Behemoth.." Jeremey said in amazement, "Cid, get us the hell outta here!" Cid nodded and the ship sped up.

"Can't pull up yet, not enough speed.." Jeremey frowned.

"I thought this thing was like a helicopter?" Jeremey said frantically, "It could go straight up, backwards, you know, all that bull?" Cid licked his lips and steered the ship as best he could.

"Well, not when we're already moving forward.." Jeremey's shoulders slumped, "If I wanted to move straight up, I have to stop, and I don't think we want that at the moment..." Jeremey nodded and turned to look at the screen again. The Behemoth was running behind the airship, and was gaining on them. He then looked at the speedometer, it read 86 mph. Jeremey frowned.

"Whoa.." Cid said through gritted teeth as he turned a corner and the airship slowly began to gain altitude. "Uh, Jeremey..." Jeremey turned to look at Cid when something in front of the airship caught his attention. It looked like a seventy-foot tall man wearing a suit of dark-gray, dented armor with a fifty-foot sword. On the helmet, which had a single slit big enough so Jeremey could only see one glowing red eye, was a crescent moon on a short stalk. It was at the end of the street in front of the Empire State Building, which they would reach in about twenty seconds.

"An Iron Giant..." Jeremey gasped, "Up, up, up!!" He screamed.

"I'm trying kid!" Cid hollered as he pulled back on a lever beside the seat, which Jeremey guessed made the ship gain altitude. The ship slowly started to tilt upwards. Jeremey looked from the Iron Giant to the screen showing the Behemoth still charging them from behind.

"We're not gonna make it in time!" Jeremey grabbed the lever and pulled it all the way down as the Iron Giant raised the huge sword back, getting ready to attack the ship. The front of the ship suddenly pitched skyward and all Jeremey could see out of the dome was blue sky. Jeremey looked back at the screen to see the Behemoth slam into the Iron Giant, destroying the first ten floors of the building. Shattered glass and chunks of cement rained down onto the street.

"Let go of the thing kid, we're stalling!" Cid cried as a beeping sound began. Jeremey let go and Cid moved the lever back to the middle. The airship leveled back out and the everyone in the room seemed to release the breath none realized they were holding. Jeremey turned back to look at them.

"Now that wasn't all that hard, was it?" He grinned, took Kaylie's hand, and walked out of the cockpit.

----------

"This has become ridiculous!" Sephiroth roared in anger, "I see now that the old saying is true.." Kuja looked from the light to Sephiroth.

"What old saying?" He asked like a curious child.

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.." With that Sephiroth turned and began walking away from the light.

"But, what if that Jeremey kid defeats you again?" Sephiroth stopped in his tracks, turned around, walked over to the light, and placed his hand in it for two seconds. The light became slightly dimmer for a moment before returning to it's usual brightness.

"Not this time." Sephiroth turned around again, "Kuja, you're in charge while I'm gone." He called over his shoulder.

"What do you plan on doing?" Kuja called out to Sephiroth.

"I noticed when I came to this world that there was a fair in a city about fifty miles away from where he lived. It would be an excellent place to catch his attention." Ultimecia smiled and rested her arm on Kuja's shoulder.

"It's about time he did something around here.." Kuja smiled faintly and slightly nodded, barely listening to her. Sephiroth had left him in charge, it was like a dream come true.

Meanwhile Kefka sat on a rock at the edge of a small pond in the back of the cave, staring at his sword.

"These children are proving to be a thorn in Sephiroth's side.." The clown smiled, "This is getting fun.. I wonder when it will be my turn to fight the little brats?" He asked himself before standing and walking back to the light to join the rest of the group.

----------

"I'm glad you're alright.." Kaylie said before kissing Jeremey again. She wrapped her arms around him as he placed a hand on each side of her waist. When they broke the kiss Jeremey smiled slightly.

"Aw, c'mon now.." He said lightheartedly, "You knew I'd come back to you." Kaylie smiled and nodded slowly before laying her head on his shoulder. They were in their room, with the door closed, so Jeremey wasn't worried about anyone seeing them. He had a slight problem with public affection.

"So, what's next?" Kaylie asked him, to which he responded by sitting down on the bed. Kaylie looked down and sat down beside him.

"Well.." Jeremey said thoughtfully, "Hopefully I'll be able to take a break from all this fighting.. I really want to spend some time with you without being interrupted by some world endangering threat.." He looked over at Kaylie and smiled before leaning over to kiss her. The moment their lips touched the door opened and Justin practically fell in.

"Jeremey, come here quick!" Jeremey gave Justin a look full of hate.

"Alright, be right there." Justin turned and ran down the hall toward the stairs. Jeremey looked at Kaylie and scratched the back of his head. "I should really learn how to keep my mouth shut.." He smiled.

"Yeah, you should." Kaylie smiled and kissed him before standing, "C'mon, let's go." Jeremey stood and followed her to the cockpit. As they walked by the recreation room Jeremey looked in, but nobody was there. This worried Jeremey slightly. He began to walk a little faster to the cockpit.

"What's the problem?" He asked the group when the cockpit door opened. Everyone turned to look at him before pointing to the TV he had watched the news reports on about an hour earlier. On the screen, looking at the camera, was Sephiroth, who appeared to be at a fair of some sort. Jeremey's heart sank.

"Hello boy, I know you're watching this." Sephiroth said before chunking his sword like a spear into someone who was running away, "Aw, that's a pity, I seem to have killed another innocent person.. If you want another chance at stopping me, come home. I'm at the South Carolina State Fair." He said as the Masamune appeared in his hand and he struck the camera, causing the screen to fill with static. Jeremey felt fear rising in him. He had stabbed Sephiroth, killed him, how had he come back?

"Do it.." Jeremey said to Cid coldly. He then turned to the rest of the group, "Ok guys, I want all of you to stay out of this... This is my fight, I don't want any of you getting hurt.." Kaylie put a hand on his shoulder.

"We're here to help Jeremey.." She said softly, "Regardless if you want us to or not, we're going down there to help you. We can't just stand by and watch you get hurt." Jeremey looked at her and smiled weakly.

"Yeah." Chas added, "Besides, what are friends for?" Jeremey nodded at his best friend and looked the group over. All of them were nodding, even Petey.

"Well.." Jeremey smiled, "I should've seen this coming.. I'd rather not have you guys out there, but I see that your minds are already made up, so what's the point of arguing?" He looked at Kaylie, who smiled.

"Hey kid, how fast do you want to get there?" Jeremey turned and smiled.

"As fast as you can."

----------

"Hm, what's taking him so long?" Sephiroth asked himself as he looked around him. Corpses littered the ground, already he could smell the stench of death. He frowned and started toward the other side of the fair, where more people might be located.

"I hope he got my message.." He said as he turned a corner and started toward the largest roller coaster in the park. He passed by a building that had Ellison Building on a small sign on the wall. He continued onward and passed by the gates to a large stage, aptly named Grandstand. When he reached the roller coaster he was at an intersection. He looked left, to the roller coaster, and right, to a ride called The Fireball. It consisted of a group of seats set in a circle on the end of a large, lighted rod. He gathered from the design that it would go back and forth, as a pendulum would, and the seats would spin around while the rod was swinging.

"People are strange..." He said to himself as he looked back at the roller coaster. He suddenly heard something that sounded like a jet approaching fast. He smiled as he saw the airship, which was larger than he expected, stop over the Ellison Building, which was now about a hundred fifty feet away. "This will be interesting..." With that he turned and started to The Fireball.

--------

There were two things Jeremey noticed as he and the rest of the group leapt from the airship to the roof of the Ellison Building. One, that there was nobody alive within one hundred-fifty yards. Two, a few rides were on about one hundred feet away, as was the Ferris Wheel, which was about a hundred yards in front of him. He didn't see Sephiroth anywhere.

"Where is he?" Justin said behind him. Jeremey looked back and shrugged. He saw Chas looking around as well.

"I have a question, why did we jump onto the roof?" Chas looked at Jeremey as the airship flew off towards William Brice Stadium, which was only across the street, to land the airship.

"Because.." Jeremey started toward a door on the other end of the building, "He couldn't get us close enough to the ground." Jeremey tried the door knob, and finding it locked, slashed the door while pulling the trigger. White light emitted from the cut before it blew the door open. Jeremey simply kicked the larger chunks out of the way.

"You okay dude?" Erik asked Jeremey, who simply looked back with a frown.

"All those people.." He shook his head and started down the steps. Once the group reached the bottom of the steps, they realized they were in a control room. On the surveillance screens was what seemed to be a large sand statue that had been destroyed. Jeremey frowned and continued into the main building. He continued forward cautiously, watching his environments closely. The group reached the front doors without incident.

"Well, that was exciting.." Justin said sarcastically, but everyone heard the fear in his voice. Jeremey smiled slightly, Justin was terrified.

"Wait till you get outside, the excitement will be overwhelming." Jeremey said looking back at Justin. Jeremey walked out the large glass door and halfway across the walkway. There he stopped and looked around. He looked left, then right. When he looked left again Sephiroth was standing about thirty feet away. Jeremey's heart skipped a beat and he readied his gunblade. The rest of the group readied their weapons as well. Jeremey strode to the front of the group, making sure everybody was behind him. As Jeremey was looking the group over, he didn't see Chas.

"Hello boy." Sephiroth hollered. Jeremey turned his attention back to Sephiroth quickly.

"Hey.." He frowned, "I thought I got you last time.." Sephiroth chuckled.

"Oh no, you merely wounded me.." With those words the Masamune appeared in his hand. Jeremey could feel himself shaking slightly. He was afraid.

"Well, guess I'll have to finish the job this time, won't I?" Sephiroth smiled broadly.

"You're welcome to try boy, you and all your friends.." He readied his weapon. Jeremey was about to charge Sephiroth when Justin pushed him out the way and ran at Sephiroth as fast as he could.

"I got him!" Justin hollered when he was about ten feet away from Sephiroth.

"Justin, no!" Jeremey cried as Justin leapt into the air and brought the Brotherhood down with all his might. Sephiroth easily blocked the attack and smiled as Justin struggled against his strength. Jeremey began running toward the two when he saw Chas coming up behind Sephiroth swinging his huge sword like a baseball bat, intending to cleave Sephiroth in half.

"You're friends are good boy.." Sephiroth said ducking as the blade barely missed him. He then horse kicked Chas in the stomach, sending him flying over twenty feet, the only thing that stopped him from going farther was a ticket booth. "But they're not good enough!" Sephiroth finished as he grabbed Justin by the collar and flung him back thirty feet. When he landed he bounced and rolled, ending up between Wesley and Erik.

"Justin, you okay?" Wesley bent down as Justin sat up groggily.

"I've had worse.." He groaned.

"Yeah right, and I'm Abraham Lincoln." Erik laughed before running to join the fray. Justin looked back at Sephiroth to see him deflect one of Jeremey's attacks, grab Erik by his shirt, and fling him into Jeremey. The teens tumbled about ten feet. Jeremey was the first to stand.

"Not this time dammit!" Jeremey growled as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards his nemesis. Sephiroth pushed Wesley away and turned in time to see Jeremey leaping into the air and bringing the blade down. Sephiroth smiled and brought his weapon up to block the attack easily. Jeremey landed and pushed against Sephiroth's blade with all his might, but the weapon did not budge.

"Should I fight you with my eyes closed?" Sephiroth said smiling while leaning into Jeremey's face, "I'm sure that would even up the odds.." Jeremey snarled, hopped up, kicked off Sephiroth's bent knee, and dropped kicked him in the face with both feet. The man stumbled back a few feet holding his nose.

"No, I think the odds are just fine." Jeremey said smiling. Sephiroth removed his hand and saw a small pool of red on the black gloves.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life boy!" He snarled and ran at Jeremey bringing the blade up at an angle. Jeremey barely brought his weapon up to block in time, and when the blades collided, Jeremey was sent flying about a hundred yards. Jeremey saw the ground rushing toward him quickly and curled into a ball before he hit the ground. When he landed, he bounced almost three feet in the air and after he stopped rolling he looked up to see that he was at the base of the Ferris Wheel. His vision was blurred slightly, but he could still feel the gunblade in his hand.

"That really hurt.." Jeremey groaned. His arms ached, his side burned, his forehead above his right eye burned, and his legs felt heavy. His right eye suddenly began stinging. He reached up, touched his eye lid, and pulled his hand back to reveal blood. Immediately he realized that he had a gash on his forehead, and the blood was dripping into his eye. "Great.." He mumbled as he looked in the blade of the gunblade.

The gash wasn't deep, just long, and the bleeding wasn't that bad. Jeremey grabbed his shirttail and wiped the blood from his forehead and eye. Just as he finished doing that he saw a black figure shoot up from where he was previously. Sephiroth was coming for him, he knew it. Jeremey attempted to stand, but his legs felt like lead weights. Just as Sephiroth reached as high as it seemed he could go, something that looked a lot like a four-ended tire iron shot up and seemed to hit him in his left arm.

"Hell yeah!" Jeremey hollered happily. Millie had gotten Sephiroth. Jeremey saw the figure turn and remove Millie's weapon and fling it back down. Jeremey somehow found the strength to stand and was in an all out run back to the Ellison Building; back to his friends. While trying to run between some rides he tripped over electrical wires and hit the ground hard, landing on his chin. It didn't even slow his down, he leapt from the ground and began running again, even though he could taste blood in his mouth.

When Jeremey finally reached the Ellison Building he didn't see Sephiroth or the group in his direct vision. He heard the distinctive sound of bladed weapons colliding to his right and turned to see Sephiroth battling Chas in front of a roller coaster, which was running. Jeremey ran straight for them as Sephiroth easily ducked one of Chas's attacks.

"Jeremey!" He heard Kaylie call to his right as he was running. He stopped dead in his tracks and ran toward her voice. He found Kaylie, Millie, and Erik behind a game booth helping Justin up. It was then that Jeremey noticed a hole in the back of the booth.

"What happened?" Jeremey asked them. Justin looked up at him smiling slightly.

"Glad to see you're okay.." He said as Kaylie leapt onto Jeremey and kissed him.

"You're hurt." Kaylie said worriedly. Jeremey smiled and nodded to Justin.

"I've had worse.." Justin smiled and stood groggily. Jeremey looked around again, "Where's Wesley?"

"He went after you." Millie pointed toward the Ferris Wheel. Jeremey then noticed that there was a long cut on her shirt. Jeremey nodded and looked at his friends.

"Listen, I'm gonna try something, when I do, I want all of you to grab Chas and get the hell out of dodge." Kaylie looked at him with pure fear on her face. "Trust me, okay? Whenever you see me hit Sephiroth, grab Chas and run, got me?" They all nodded. Jeremey looked at Kaylie and smiled weakly. "Everything will be alright, I promise." He reached out and touched her face with the back of his hand gently. She closed her eyes and gathered herself before nodding.

"Let's do this.." Justin cracked his neck and got ready to run for Chas. Jeremey smiled and ran toward one of his favorite rides, The Fireball.

"Remember, not until I hit him!" He called over his shoulder. As he reached the ride, he saw that it was on, but not moving very fast. "This is gonna be fun." Jeremey walked over to the controls, dismissed his gunblade, and turned the speed all the way up. He quickly ran over to the place where people sit, leapt up and clambered up on top of the seats. The ride was designed so that when the ride started, people could sit down, but their feet would never touch the floor of the ride.

Jeremey grabbed onto a thick wire and clung to it for dear life as the ride picked up speed. He felt his feet moving and remembered that the seats were designed to spin as the pendulum part of the ride went back and forth.

"Shit.." Jeremey mumbled and began moving from seat to seat as they moved. The end of the pendulum went high into the air and Jeremey could see Sephiroth standing over Chas, talking to him. Jeremey readied himself as the ride moved the other way. As it was moving back towards Sephiroth and Chas Jeremey could hear the wind whistling in his ear. Jeremey timed the movement of the ride so that before it started to rise, he let go and allowed the momentum of the ride fling him toward Sephiroth. Jeremey moved so he'd be kicking Sephiroth when he reached him.

"Hey asshole!" Jeremey screamed a moment before he reached his enemy. Sephiroth looked up only to see Jeremey collide into his side, sending them both into the roller coaster. When Jeremey hit Sephiroth it felt as if his legs had been hit by a truck. Sephiroth and the teen crashed through the track that the roller coaster ran on.

"What.." Sephiroth groaned, "What the hell?" He sat up to see Jeremey standing slowly. Jeremey stumbled over to Sephiroth, summoned the gunblade, raised it, and slammed it into the ground between Sephiroth's legs. As the blade slammed into the ground Jeremey pulled the trigger three times. Luckily, Sephiroth hadn't heard.

"Go, go, go!" Jeremey could hear Kaylie hollering at Millie and the others. Sephiroth looked from the gunblade to Jeremey.

"Will you never learn?" Sephiroth laughed. Jeremey simply smiled, let go of the gunblade, turned, and limped away as fast as he could. Sephiroth cocked his head to the side, the boy had left his weapon in front of his enemy. It didn't make sense. Sephiroth looked down to see the ground cracking around the blade. Sephiroth looked back up just as white light emitted from the cracks and the ground exploded like a bomb. Jeremey was sent flying as a result.

"Jeremey!!" Jeremey heard Kaylie scream a moment before the explosion occurred.

"No!!" He distinguished Millie's screaming voice through the roar of the explosion. Jeremey felt himself slam into something and opened his eyes to find himself at the base of The Fireball. Jeremey groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. He heard a whistling sound coming from above and began to look up before his gunblade stabbed into the ground about ten inches in front of his face.

"Dammit.." Jeremey groaned and forced himself to stand. He grabbed up his gunblade and dismissed it. He looked back toward the roller coaster to see a pale blue light fading away. The roller coaster track itself was in shambles, pieces of the ride and wires were hanging out all over the place. Jeremey took a step in that direction and nearly collapsed. He had never felt as tired as he did at that moment.

Suddenly something in Jeremey's gut told him something was horribly wrong. His eyes widened and he forced himself at least to jog back to the roller coaster. When he reached his destination what he saw made his blood run cold. Kaylie was lying on the ground with an inch-wide metal rod from the roller coaster track in her chest, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Jeremey's mouth moved looking for words, but none came. He ran over to her, fell to his knees, and lifted her head up.

"Kaylie.." Jeremey said weakly. Kaylie opened her eyes and a weak smile spread across her face slowly.

"Jeremey, you're alive.." Her smile faded, "You're hurt..." Jeremey forced a smile. Already he could feel his own blood trickling down his face.

"I'm fine.." Kaylie groaned and held onto his hand. Jeremey squeezed her hand tightly.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

"Nothing baby.." Jeremey said quietly, placing his free hand on her face, "Everything's alright.." Jeremey's eyes burned, his throat became dry, it was hard for him to breath.

"Do I look alright?" Kaylie asked him, it seemed like she was choking.

"You look as beautiful as ever.." Jeremey bent down and kissed Kaylie on her forehead.

"Jeremey..." She said slowly and Jeremey saw that the sparkle in her eyes was fading, "Don't ever forget..."

"Don't ever forget what?" Jeremey's body was going numb. He was vaguely aware of his friends gathering around him.

"I love you.." Kaylie gasped, "Don't ever forget that I love you.." With that, Kaylie closed her eyes and her breath became faint gasps. After a few moments, her breathing stopped completely.

"Kaylie?" Jeremey could feel tears forming in his eyes, "Kaylie? Please, no.. Please don't leave me.. I won't know what to do... Kaylie? Kaylie...? I love you.." Jeremey lifted the top half of Kaylie's body up, rested his head on her shoulder, and closed his eyes. He could hear Millie crying somewhere to his right, but somehow it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. "I love you..." Jeremey said quietly. Then, for the first time in years, Jeremey cried.


	9. Betrayal

BETRAYAL

"Kaylie's dead..." Jeremey said quietly as he sat trembling, "She's dead.." Tears were still falling from his eyes, even as Cid ran up to the group.

"We gotta go guys.." Cid said frantically, "The police are on their way.. What's wrong?" Cid asked as he looked at the solemn faces of the group. His eyes fell on Jeremey and then on Kaylie, at which point he gasped. "No, no way.." Jeremey looked up at Cid and blinked a few times.

"She's dead Cid.." He said slowly, "It should have been me.. WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN ME!" Jeremey stood and summoned his gunblade, flipping it around so the point was aimed at his chest. Just as he raised the gunblade to stab himself, Erik and Chas leapt over and pulled the gunblade from his grip. Jeremey simply fell back, partly from exhaustion, partly from shock, and began crying again.

"It's alright Jeremey..." Chas bent down beside his friend, "It's ok.." He looked up and saw Millie crying silently.

"Is it?" Jeremey looked at Chas like he had never seen a human being in his life, "Chas, I loved her.. Someone shouldn't have to watch the person they love die.." Chas looked at the ground quietly.

"We have to go, now.." Cid said somberly. Chas nodded and helped Jeremey up. Jeremey didn't resist, he didn't have the strength. He looked back once as the group walked toward William Brice Stadium.

"We're gonna leave her?" Jeremey looked at Chas, then Erik. Chas sighed and looked at Millie, who was holding onto his free arm, crying into his shoulder.

"We have to Jeremey.." Chas looked at Justin, who hadn't said a word since the incident. Wesley looked at Chas and shook his head.

"You're right, I guess.." Jeremey said quietly as the group entered the stadium. They slowly made their way to the airship and boarded it. As the ship ascended Jeremey looked out the window one last time to see police cars pulling into the fair grounds.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" Jeremey asked himself, "Why?" With that he turned and walked to his room.

--------------

"Look at him." Ultimecia said to Kuja, "The boy's his lost his mind from grief.." Kefka smiled as he watched Jeremey cry in his room. The trio suddenly heard slow footsteps walking toward them. They turned to see Sephiroth limping toward the light holding his side.

"S-sephiroth, you're alive.." Kuja said in amazement. Kefka crossed his arms and sneered.

"Of course he is you imbecile." Kefka said while watching Sephiroth walk to the light and placed his hand inside it. The light dimmed slightly and all his wounds were healed.

"What happened?" Sephiroth asked, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, the boy with the gunblade, Jeremey, blew you all to hell.." Kefka smiled at Sephiroth, "It's really quite ingenious how he did it..." Sephiroth held up his hand.

"No, no.." He paused as he looked at what was being shown in the light, "What happened after that? You said he was insane from grief?" Ultimecia nodded.

"Yes, the explosion the boy kaused killed his lover.." She nodded at the image of Jeremey in the light, "He's slowly losing his mind.." Sephiroth looked at the light again and smiled.

"Ultimecia, I believe it's time that the fuse was lit.." Ultimecia cocked her head to the side.

"I believe he means that you should tell the traitor to strike now.." Kefka said looking at the light. It suddenly switched over to a scene of Petey sitting on his bed looking at his gunblade.

"Yes, now would be the perfect time to strike.." Sephiroth looked at Ultimecia.

"Konsider it done.." Ultimecia nodded and turned to walk into darkness.

--------------

"Kaylie's dead..." Petey stared at his gunblade in the privacy of his room.

"And it's all Jeremey's fault.." He heard a familiar voice say. He looked to the end of the bed to find Ultimecia laying down seductively. Petey raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Petey dismissed the gunblade. Ultimecia sat up and cracked her neck.

"I'm talking about your leader kausing the death of his lover.." She looked at Petey with a thoughtful face, "Now is that someone you should be following?" She cocked her head to the side as she finished the sentence. Petey thought a moment.

"Wait, Jeremey killed Kaylie?" He frowned, "No, he would never do that." Ultimecia sighed and ruffled Petey's hair.

"Not purposely, but his karelessness killed her.." She stood and walked over to Petey's desk, which had gash marks in it, presumably from the gunblade, "Karelessness cannot be good for any group, especially from the leader.." Ultimecia turned to Petey.

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Petey shrugged and shook his head.

"I want you to show those fools who they should be following." Ultimecia walked over to Petey quickly, "Show them that they should be following a strong, steady leader instead of a weak, kareless imbecile." With this Ultimecia placed her hands on the sides of Petey's face and slowly lifted his to a standing position, "And if they do not follow you... Kill them.." Petey frowned a moment.

"What do I do?" He raised an eyebrow, "I can't just go into the cockpit and announce over the intercom 'Hey, I'm your new leader, follow me or die.' I can't do that." Ultimecia smiled.

"Do not worry my boy, I already have a plan to get their attention.."

--------------

Millie lay on her bed still weeping. Her best friend had died not even twenty minutes earlier. She had watched Kaylie die. Best friends were not supposed to see that happen. Chas was gone, he had left to check on Jeremey, his best friend, who had seemingly went into shock. Chas had wanted to stay with Millie, but she had insisted that he go check on Jeremey.

Millie had noticed that she and Chas had gotten closer in the past few days. Ever since they talked about their relationship, her life had started to go uphill. Now everything was horribly wrong. Millie sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Why?" She asked nobody, "What did Kaylie do to deserve this?" She paused, remembering that Jeremey had almost killed himself. It was best that Chas be with him instead. He'd need the entire groups' support for the next few days. If anybody would need it, it would be Jeremey.

Millie laid down and closed her eyes. She hoped that she would wake up and find out that it was all a dream. But she knew she wouldn't. Life wasn't that fair. She heard the door to her room open and she frowned.

"Chas, I thought I told you to check on Jeremey.." Millie said slowly. When she didn't hear a reply she opened her eyes to see Petey standing in the doorway with the Hyperion, the other type of gunblade. "Where'd you get that?" The words poured from her mouth. "And what are you doing here?" She asked quickly, noticing the sinister smile on Petey's face.

"Gaining attention.." Petey said before raising the point of the blade and bringing it down. Millie watched as the point seemed to fall in slow motion. She closed her eyes and tensed her body. She felt a sharp pain in her chest and then nothing, blackness.

--------------

Jeremey lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling absently. Chas had just left to go check back in on Millie. Jeremey's body was numb still. He had watched the woman he loved die in his arms and it was partially his fault. His carelessness had killed her. He should have stabbed Sephiroth instead of trying to blow him up.

"I'm sorry Kaylie.." Jeremey closed his eyes and began crying again. He hated himself for causing Kaylie's death. He also hated himself for showing weakness in front of the team. "Why dammit? WHY!" Jeremey slammed the side of his fist into the wall. His life had been spiraling downward ever since the gunblade appeared in his hand.

"Why did this damn thing have to come to me?" Jeremey summoned his gunblade and sat up, "All you've caused me is guilt and pain.. What kind of good is going to come out of you?" He dismissed the gunblade and laid back down. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down, tried to get the past hour out of his mind. The gash in his forehead and pain in his body prevented this however.

"_JEREMEY!" _Chas's voice blared over his intercom, "_Get out here now!"_ Jeremey sat up and looked at the door a moment. He then remembered that he had put the locking mechanism on it. He stood and walked over to the door, pausing when he realized the panic and pain in Chas's voice. He quickly opened the door and stepped out into the hall to see Chas with the Buster Sword in his hands, looking around with tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Jeremey asked, more than a little worried. Chas looked at him and broke down.

"Millie.." He said as he fell to his knees as he dismissed the weapon, "She's dead.." Jeremey's body went numb again. He shook his head.

"What?" Chas looked up at him and nodded, "No, it can't be dude.. Please tell me you're joking.." Chas leapt up quicker than Jeremey had ever seen him move and slammed Jeremey into the wall beside the door.

"JOKING?" Chas screamed into Jeremey's face, "Why the HELL would I be joking about something like this!" Jeremey grabbed Chas's wrists and twisted them slightly, causing him to let go.

"Calm down.." Jeremey said, his voice barely audible, "Sit down on my bed and calm down.." Chas looked at Jeremey and fell back on the bed. Jeremey sat in the chair beside his desk. Millie was dead now, who could have killed her? Who would WANT to kill her?

"I don't know what I'm gonna do Jeremey.." Chas buried his face in his hands, "I just don't know what the hell I'm gonna do.." Jeremey stood slowly and took a deep breath before stepping out the room.

"I'll be right back.." Jeremey said as he closed the door, "Stay here, be on guard.." Chas nodded slowly. Jeremey started down the hall to the recreation room, he had an idea that he prayed was wrong. He reached the doors of the recreation room and saw Wesley and Erik playing a game of pool. Both seemed pretty glum and didn't even notice that he was there at first.

"Guys, have you seen Petey lately?" Wesley started at the sound of Jeremey's voice. Erik looked up and shook his head.

"Not since we boarded the ship.." Erik looked at Wesley, who shook his head and shrugged, "Why?"

"Because Millie's been murdered, and I think he did it.." Wesley dropped his pool stick and Erik shook his head quickly, as if trying to disperse a headache.

"What?" Erik placed the pool stick on the table and walked to the door, "You're joking right? Tell me you're joking.." Jeremey gave Erik a stern look that destroyed any thought that he was joking.

"No, we have to find Petey.." Jeremey turned and walked to Millie and Chas's room. He opened the door to find a blood covered bed, with Millie's corpse lying on it. He quickly shut the door and fell back against it. His breathing became labored, he became light headed. Erik and Wesley finally approached and looked at Jeremey quizzically, to which he responded by shaking his head.

"Where's Justin?" Wesley looked around. Erik thought a moment before snapping his fingers.

"In his room, be right back." Erik ran off toward Justin's room. Wesley looked at Jeremey quietly for a moment.

"Sorry about Kaylie.." He said staring at the floor. Jeremey frowned and patted Wesley on the shoulder.

"Thanks.." Jeremey sighed, "But we have something big to worry about right now, can't get bogged down in the past, no matter how sad. There's a murderer on this ship and we have to find him.." Jeremey paused as Erik came back with Justin following closely behind him.

"Justin's been in his room the entire time.." Erik said. Jeremey nodded as he noticed that Justin's eyes were red, presumably from crying. Jeremey had known about Justin's crush on Kaylie for a long time.

"So, Millie's dead too?" Justin asked as he looked past Jeremey to the door.

"Yes.." Jeremey paused to let the information sink in, "There's a murderer here and we have to find him, or it, whichever the case may be." Justin nodded slowly.

"I can't do it Jeremey.." He looked at the floor, "I just lost someone very dear to me, I don't think I have the strength to.. How can you do it?" He looked at Jeremey with tears in his eyes.

"Justin, I know how you felt about Kaylie, but---"

"How do you know how I felt about her!" Justin screamed, "I loved her Jeremey! I've been crying for the past thirty minutes, what the hell have you been doing! It's like you didn't even give a shit about her!" Jeremey suddenly slammed Justin against the wall and summoned his gunblade, pressing the blade against Justin's neck. Erik and Wesley, who had remained quiet throughout the exchange, suddenly leapt forward to grab Jeremey by the shoulders and pull him back.

"Listen you little bastard, I don't give a damn if you're my friend or not, I will kill you if you EVER say anything like that again!" Jeremey screamed as he pointed the point of the weapon at Justin, who was rubbing his neck, "I swear I'll kill you. I'm losing my fuggin mind Justin, what the hell are you doing! Crying like the little bitch that you are? You don't want to help, fine, go back to your room and stay there. But don't come back to us hoping that we'll help you when you need it." Jeremey shrugged off Wesley and Erik and wiped his eyes. He had started crying while he was yelling at Justin.

"Jeremey..." Justin said as he checked his hand for blood, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you guys... You may be able to bounce back from any tragedy, but I can't.. I'm not used to tragedies.." Jeremey wiped his eyes again as Justin turned and walked back to his room, hanging his head.

"What do we do Jeremey?" Wesley asked as Jeremey dismissed his gunblade.

"We find Petey.." Jeremey turned to Petey's room, "I doubt it's him, but we have to check to make sure.."

"What about Chas?" Erik asked.

"No, wasn't Chas, the wound in her chest was too narrow..." Jeremey said as they reached Petey's room. Jeremey was reaching for the doorknob when he heard something strike the door from the other side. He grabbed the doorknob and was turning it when the door exploded as if a cherry bomb had been planted on it. Jeremey shielded his face to prevent debris as the door swung open violently as if kicked. The force of the door knocked Jeremey back before he fell.

He looked up to see Wesley dodge the blade of the Hyperion, the gunblade owned by Seifer in Final Fantasy 8. Wesley fell back against the wall. Erik summoned the Shimmering Blade and swung at Petey, who was holding the Hyperion, smiling smugly as he blocked Erik's attack.

"Erik, why do you follow Jeremey?" Petey asked before kicking Erik in the stomach and swinging at Wesley, who ducked, "Why not follow me? I'm stronger than Jeremey, faster than Jeremey, all around better than Jeremey." Wesley swung at Petey with a right hook, to which Petey responded by bringing his weapon up and letting Wesley's fist collided with the flat of the blade.

"What the hell's wrong with you Petey?" Erik said as he swung his weapon at Petey again. Petey leapt back and rushed in to elbow Erik in the face when the blade hit the ground. Erik stumbled back and fell against the wall.

"You killed Millie didn't you!" Wesley leapt up and kicked Petey in the right shoulder before Petey smacked him in the side with the flat of the blade.

"Yes I did.." Petey walked up to Wesley, who was laying on the floor, clutching his side, "I'll do the same to you two if you don't join me.." Petey pointed the weapon at Wesley's throat.

"Why?" Erik said slowly, trying to find the strength to stand, "Why did you kill her?" Petey looked at Erik slowly and raised an eyebrow.

"To get everyone's attention.." Petey turned back to Wesley, "It was the best way to prove that I'm better than all of you. But, I killed her for a reason. I don't kill people for no reason at all, especially the ones I love.. I'm not careless like Jeremey, none of you will die because of my carelessness.. " Petey pressed the point of the blade against Wesley's throat, "So, are you with me or not?" Wesley shook his head slowly.

"Look Petey, I know you're like a bad guy and all now, but you just said the wrong thing.." Petey frowned in thought for a moment before he heard the sound of running footsteps behind him. He turned to see Jeremey running at him with his gunblade.

"Shit!" Petey said while leaping back and blocking Jeremey's attack. They held that position for a moment, neither gaining an advantage. Jeremey could feel how weak he was from the fight with Sephiroth.

"Where'd you get that?" Jeremey growled, "And why are you doing this! You should be helping us!" Jeremey snarled as he used his weapon to push off Petey's and took a few steps back.

"I got it from someone who appreciates me more than you guys." Petey sneered, "And I'm doing this because they should be following me, not you. You're weak Jeremey, I always knew you were." Petey leapt at Jeremey and swung the weapon, intending to catch Jeremey off guard. Jeremey blocked and leapt back before leaping forward with all his might for a lunge. Petey leapt back and knocked the blade of Jeremey's weapon to the ground before using his own momentum to spin around and elbow Jeremey in the back of the head.

"Another question.." Jeremey said angrily while turning around and blocking Petey's attack, "How'd you know we were outside the door?" Petey smiled as he pushed Jeremey away. Jeremey snarled and lunged at Petey's chest. Petey turned sideways, letting the blade pass by harmlessly before swinging his own weapon down, intending to severe Jeremey's arms at the elbows. Jeremey quickly pulled his arms back, letting go of his weapon in the process.

As soon as Petey's weapon hit the ground, Jeremey caught Petey in the face with a right hook. He followed that with a left uppercut and a haymaker to the back of Petey's head. Petey stumbled forward and turned to swing at Jeremey, but before he could, Jeremey kicked him in the stomach. Petey gasped for air as he collapsed onto the ground clutching his stomach.

"Get up.." Jeremey ordered coldly, "I know there's more in you than that, Petey... Get up.." Petey looked up at Jeremey and slowly stood.

"I knew you guys were out here because I taped the button down on the panel.." Petey pointed to the panel that ran the intercom to his room. The button for people outside his room to talk to him was taped down, allowing Petey to listen to the activities of people outside the room without them knowing.

"Nice.." Jeremey picked up his gunblade and swung at Petey's legs. Petey blocked easily, but Jeremey had planned this. What he hadn't planned on was Petey pulling the trigger on his gunblade as the two blades collided. The explosion threw Jeremey and Petey back. Petey amazingly recovered faster and had his weapon pointed at Jeremey's throat. He stepped on Jeremey's chest to make sure he couldn't sit up and smiled smugly.

"Now to prove that I'm better than you in every way.." Petey said before raising the blade of his weapon. As he was about to bring it down he was tackled to the ground. Jeremey sat up to see Chas beating Petey in the face.

"You son of a bitch!" Chas screamed as tears streamed down his face, "You killed her! You killed Millie!" He punched Petey in the face again and Petey growled before grabbing Chas by the throat with his free hand. He began to choke Chas, who grabbed at Petey's forearm trying to pull his hand from his throat. Petey sat up and brought the point of his gunblade up to stab Chas in the chest. Jeremey leapt up and kneed Petey in the side of the head. Petey's body pitched sideways and his head slammed into the wall.

"Ow, dammit." Petey hit Chas in the face with a right hook, using the handle on his gunblade to make the attack more powerful. Chas fell back and Petey leapt up blocking an attack from Jeremey. He kicked Jeremey in the stomach and began running down the hall when he heard Chas get up.

"You're not leaving this ship alive.." Chas said as he summoned the Buster Sword. Petey raised an eyebrow.

"Bring it on.." Chas ran at Petey full speed. He lunged and Petey smacked the blade down, spun around the blade and swung his own weapon at Chas's head. Chas ducked and swung the huge sword like a baseball bat to smack Petey in the back with the flat of the sword. Petey stumbled forward a few feet and turned to block another attack.

Petey struggled against the weight of the sword before shifting his position, causing the huge sword and Chas to fall forward. He brought his weapon up triumphantly and swung it down. Jeremey blocked Petey's attack and shook his head.

"Not in the back Petey.." He said calmly. Petey stared at Jeremey, how could he be so calm in the face of danger? It infuriated him to think that Jeremey remained calm and never lost his cool. Petey screamed and swung his weapon up at Jeremey's head. Jeremey leaned his head back barely in time, the blade of the Hyperion barely missing his face. The blade slammed into the wall, only inches from Jeremey's head. Petey snarled and was going to bring the blade down when he felt a sharp pain in his side.

Petey looked down to see four inches of the Buster Sword's point in his side. The only thing that stopped it from going further was the fact that Jeremey was holding the back of the sword, preventing it from moving forward anymore. Petey's jaw dropped, Jeremey had dismissed his gunblade and grabbed Chas's weapon to prevent it from going through him. Petey stumbled back and dismissed his weapon.

"Ultimecia, get me out of here.." Petey said quietly. Suddenly a dark-purple cloud appeared in the air behind him and he fell inside. Jeremey stared at it as it grew smaller and disappeared completely. He suddenly felt the Buster Sword pulled from his grip violently. Jeremey turned to see Chas bringing the weapon up to attack him. Jeremey summoned his gunblade and blocked Chas's attack.

"What the hell's the matter with you!" Jeremey screamed.

"You stopped me from killing him!" Chas pressed on Jeremey's weapon, using the weight of the sword to his advantage.

"I was NOT going to let you kill him Chas." Jeremey struggled against the weight of the weapon, "Not here, not now.."

"He killed Millie.." Chas said the pressure of the attack lessening, "He killed her Jeremey..." With that Chas fell to his knees and began crying.

"I know he did.." Jeremey dismissed the gunblade and leaned down to comfort his friend, "But we beat him.. Don't worry, we'll get him one day, I promise.." Jeremey said as the weight of the losses that day hit him full force. Jeremey lost his strength and fell to one knee. He began crying, realizing that he'll never be able hold Kaylie again, never be able to see Millie smile. Chas looked at Jeremey for a long time before nodding slowly and leaning to comfort Jeremey. Erik and Wesley looked at each other solemnly and walked over to pat the two on the back, doing the best they could to help their friends.

--------------

"You said I could win." Petey told Ultimecia angrily. The woman shrugged as she inspected the wound in Petey's side. They were in a large, medieval-looking room. The walls seemed to be made of large gray blocks and there was a huge fireplace on one wall. Petey was currently sitting in a chair in front of a desk.

"You didn't try hard enough.." She said scornfully, "Plus you are not as experienced as them.. I will train you.." Petey smiled.

"That'll be good.." He said distantly, remembering that the only reason he was alive was because Jeremey had saved his life, "That'll be real good.."


End file.
